บท 10: This world really needs entertainment
(In this chapter I used a part of the SAO novel, this was just to give importance to the novel that the MC wrote, in the future I don't think I will do it again, so don't worry about any discontent)
The three rewards I received were from SAO, and unlike the swords, these were the general skills that all characters had at the beginning of the game. The one that caught my attention the most was Battle Healing, with this skill I will now be able to heal myself automatically during the fight, and I also noticed another curious thing, I could now see a small green bar with my name on the left side of my vision, this is definitely the same HP bar that the SAO characters had.
With so many SAO rewards I feel almost like a character in a game, on the other hand, having the Danger Detection Quirk and Artoria Pendragon's instinct, this Searching skill is not very useful to me, but the Tracking skill may be useful in the future, out of curiosity I decided to try it to compare it with the one in the anime, I looked in the mirror and clearly my eyes were shining with a greenish-yellow color, I tried to look around a little but I didn't see anything special, I guess that just as it is mentioned in the description it only serves to follow the trail of enemies.
Although I did not receive such impressive rewards, just receiving Elucidator and Dark Repulser made all this additional training worth it, now apart from a strong body I also have weapons that allow me to protect myself, this means that the idea of writing novels and drawing manga is the right one, it is the easiest and fastest way to receive powerful rewards.
The only thing I'm missing now is opponents I can use these swords on, I feel bad leaving them unused inside the system storage.
Kenichi: "Now that I think about it... I got so immersed in sword training that I didn't even notice the time... The good thing is that tomorrow is Sunday... Just thinking about the explanation I'm going to have to give for my new appearance on Monday when I go to school gives me a headache, luckily for me classes have just started, so aside from Rito, Sairenji, and some other high school kids most of my classmates don't know me, plus I'm going to have to buy new clothes, the ones I have won't fit... Haa... The plot of To Love-Ru hasn't even started and I already feel nervous."
With nothing else to do I went to take a quick shower to get rid of all the sweat from training and relaxedly went to sleep, something told me it was going to be a pretty busy day.
*Third Person POV*
From the center of the pattern, a blood-like liquid began to slowly ooze downwards. It descended at a speed that almost emphasized how viscous it was, but it didn't fall to the ground; instead it began to coagulate into another shape.
What appeared was a twenty-meter-tall man, covered in a hooded robe.
No, that wasn't quite right. From where we looked, we could easily see inside the hood… There was no face. It was absolutely empty. We could clearly see the clothes inside and the green embroidery inside the hood. It was the same inside the robe, all we could see inside the edges were shadows.
I've seen the same robe before. These were the clothes that had always been worn by the Argus employees, who had been working as administrators (GMs) during the Beta test. But back then the male GMs had had a face like an old sorcerer with a big beard and the female GMs had had an avatar of a girl with glasses. They must have worn the robe due to a lack of time to prepare a suitable avatar, but the empty space under the hood gave me an inexplicable feeling of anxiety, in fact, it felt like something sinister.
The countless players around me must have felt the same way too.
Is that an administrator?
Why does he have no face?
For some strange reason I feel nervous when I look at him
Even though we're in a game you have to admit that this feels very real
Numerous chatter could be heard, to the point where nothing but voices could be heard, but that can't be helped, right now there are 10,000 players gathered in one place, plus we're all trapped by a game bug, it's obvious that everyone gets upset.
But all the voices faded away the moment the giant robe moved its right hand, that one vast act to silence them all. A pristine white glove appeared from the folds of the long sleeve. But this sleeve, like the rest of the robe, was not connected to any kind of body.
He then slowly raised his left hand, and when he had both hands fully extended in front of the 10,000 players, the faceless robe opened his mouth… No, in fact, it felt like it did, because no matter how you looked at it, it had no mouth. Then, to everyone's surprise, a deep, calm male voice was heard echoing from up high in the sky.
???: "Players, welcome to my world."
"My world?" I think I wasn't the only one who was confused by what he said… If that red robe is an administrator, then he would certainly have omnipotent powers that allow him to change the world at will, but I feel like the way he said it wasn't just about that.
Before everyone's stupefied gazes, the red robe lowered his arms and continued speaking.
???: "My name is Kayaba Akihiko. At this very moment, I am the only person who can control this world."
Kirito: "What…!?"
My avatar stiffened in shock, I'm pretty sure my brain stopped working for a few seconds.
Kayaba… Akihiko!!
I knew that name… No, in fact, it would be weird if someone didn't know it.
Kayaba Akihiko, this man is both a famous game designer and a genius in the field of quantum physics, and he was also the one responsible for turning Argus, which just a few years ago was a small company, into one of the largest in the entire country.
He was also the development director of SAO and at the same time, the designer of the Nerve Gear.
As an intense gamer, I respected Kayaba deeply. I bought all the magazines he appeared in and read a few of his interviews until I almost knew them by heart, I was a true fan. I could even clearly remember his image wearing his signature white coat just by listening to his voice. But now that I think about it, he always stayed behind the scenes, refusing to be exposed to the media; he never acted as an administrator, not even in the Beta… So why is he doing something like this now?
I forced my mind to work again, trying to make sense of the situation. But the words that came out of the empty hood seemed to mock my efforts to understand.
Kayaba: "I think most of you have already figured out the fact that the logout button has disappeared from the main menu. But I can assure you that this is not a mistake, in fact, this is part of the Sword Art Online system."
Klein: "P-Part of the… System?"
Not caring about our doubts, Kayaba continued to speak indifferently.
Kayaba: "Until you reach the top of this castle, you will not be able to log out of your own free will."
This castle? I think that just like me, no one could understand this sentence. After all, we are on the first floor, "In the starting city", although there are several scenarios and events, in none of them you can find a castle. As our doubts grew more and more, Kayaba in his usual cold and indifferent tone answered our doubts.
Kayaba: "Also, the interruption or dismantling of the Nerve Gear from the outside is strictly prohibited. If any of these things are attempted..."
At Kayaba's words, we all fell silent. The silence of ten thousand people who were in the same place was quite overwhelming.
Once again indifferent to our growing fear, Kayaba spoke again.
Kayaba: "The signal sensors in your Nerve Gear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brains and stopping all your vital functions in reality."
Klein and I stared at each other in complete shock for several seconds. It was almost as if our minds refused to process what we had just heard. But Kayaba's short statement made the ten thousand players present freeze completely.
Destroy our brains…
In other words, kill us…
Any user who turned off the Nerve Gear or unlocked the safety lock and took it out would be killed. That was what Kayaba had just declared.
Anyone who heard him would think he was talking nonsense, but it was a fact that the exit button was not available, and what he said was theoretically possible, but… He must be bluffing. Even if you unplugged the Nerve Gear, it was impossible for it to emit a pulse strong enough to do that. The only way that would be possible would be if it had some kind of battery with a large amount of storage built in… Inside…
Am I stupid, 30% of the Gear's weight is the battery. But… That's complete nonsense! WHAT IF THERE WAS A SUDDEN POWER OUTAGE!?
Kayaba: "To be a bit more specific, being away from an external source of electricity for ten minutes, being off-grid for more than two hours, or any attempt to unlock, dismantle, or destroy the Nerve Gear. If any of these conditions are met, the brain destruction sequence will be initiated. These conditions have been presented to the government and the public through mass media in the outside world. By the way, there have been several cases where family members or friends, ignoring warnings, tried to forcibly remove the Nerve Gear. The result..."
Kayaba's cold voice silenced us again, how can he say such a thing and be so calm about it, he's talking about killing people.
Kayaba: "... Sadly 213 players have left this game, and the real world, forever."
Kirito: "…"
Most of the players couldn't believe what they were hearing, or refused to believe it and simply stood there with their mouths agape and fear reflected on their virtual faces. I for one wasn't much better than them, my head was desperately trying to deny what Kayaba was saying. But my body betrayed me and my knees began to shake violently. I stumbled a few steps back on my already weak knees in a pathetic attempt to not fall on my back.
Kirito: "213… Players… They have…"
This single phrase echoed over and over in my head.
Kayaba: "Players, there is no longer any need to worry about the bodies you have left behind. Right now, all the TV stations, radio stations, and the internet, all of them, are repeatedly reporting on this situation, including the fact that there have been numerous deaths. The danger of having your Nerve Gear removed has already disappeared. In a few moments, making use of the two hours I have given, all of you will be transferred to hospitals or similar institutions and given the best treatment. So you can relax... and concentrate on beating the game."
Concentrate... On beating the game...
When those cold words were spoken, the long silence was finally broken.
*Narrator's POV*
That night while Kenichi was sleeping peacefully without a care in the world, the media was anything but calm.
It turns out that a few hours ago when Kenichi posted the first chapters of Sword Art Online, it only took a few minutes for it to become a trending topic.
It all started when a famous reader known for his reviews happened to read the first chapters. At first he thought it was just another story, a simple fan who believed himself to be a writer, these were his words, words that were discarded almost instantly after reading the first chapter.
At first he thought the idea of making a story about a virtual reality game was very innovative, and thanks to the first and second chapters he thought the story was going to be a humorous one full of adventure and fantasy, this beginning already attracted him, in his experience with several novels he already imagined a perverted protagonist with a harem full of girls.
Or at least that's what he thought would happen...
But he never expected chapter five to take such an unexpected turn, suddenly the game that he thought would be the usual cliché of adventure, humor and harem, became a ruthless survival game in which unless they managed to overcome all the floors of Aincrad they couldn't return to reality, and to top it off if you died in the game you also died in reality.
Throughout the chapter the reader could feel the fear of the players and the growing suspense, even for some strange reason he could clearly see the imposing appearance of Kayaba Akihiko as he told all the players about the true purpose of SAO.
In the end it was just as Kenichi said when he received the entertainment knowledge from other realities, this world was incredibly in need of new sources of entertainment, although it was not in need of good writers, mangakas and developers, it was a fact that the stories were stagnant, almost all of them were about the same thing.
A guy dies and reincarnates in another world with a harem of beautiful girls accompanying him, or enters a magic school full of girls who adore him, that is the usual pattern that is repeated quite often in novels, and manga is not better either, although the quality of the drawings is incredible, the stories are in quite a decline.
And it's not just that, everything from the books, to the movies, the music and the games are at an incredibly backward level.
In this situation, Kenichi's story, Sword Art Online, was like a respite from the usual pattern that everyone was already used to, plus the level of his writing was on a completely different level, the amount of details and descriptions of the scenarios and characters made someone believe that they were also part of the story.
This was one of the greatest advantages of Kenichi's ability to see into other realities, it's like when he wanted to see the knowledge of the boxers from Hajime no Ippo, or when he wanted to see the cooking skills of the characters from Shokugeki no Souma, instead of seeing the knowledge from the anime or manga, he could vividly see all the sweat, blood, and tears that the characters had to shed to become who they were, even the experiences that weren't shown in the story. That's why when he fought for the bento, he gained a deep respect for boxing.
When he wrote his version of SAO he was not only guided by his knowledge of the original novel, he was also guided by his knowledge of the characters in SAO, which is why they all felt incredibly real, the fights as well, and obviously the landscapes as well.
This was one of Kenichi's biggest signs of respect, since he was born as a secondary character he could empathize with characters who had similar stories, background characters, characters just for humor, characters who were just the protagonist's friend, characters who only appeared to make the story more interesting and then never appeared again, they may have been characters who were just there to help the story move forward, but they were real, they had dreams, goals, fears and insecurities, and he, being able to feel them, was able to reflect them in his novel.
This was no longer the original SAO, it was Kenichi's own story made up of all the characters, from the protagonist to the NPCs, who also had an important function in his story.
Those five short chapters were enough for the reader to feel like a character in the incredible world of Aincrad and even empathize with the story of each character, which is why the scene with Kayaba Akihiko felt so real, he was almost like a God imposing his own rules on weak and fragile humans.
Even this famous reader couldn't help but tremble at the scene of more than 10,000 players trapped in a fantasy world where they would have no second lives, and death in the game was equivalent to death in reality.
The reader stayed for several minutes trying to process what he read. When he came to, he quickly contacted several of his hundreds of followers and recommended that they all read SAO.
This of course surprised them quite a bit, although this reader was famous for his reviews, most of them were always negative, so it was rare to see him recommend a novel with such enthusiasm. After that, everything went its own way, friend told friend, and soon the views went from 1000 to 10.000, and within a few hours more than 100.000 people had read the five chapters of SAO, the amount of positive reviews and comments almost completely saturated the page.
And all without the knowledge of Kenichi who was sleeping like a newborn baby...
He was completely oblivious to the disaster his novel was causing in the media, this only made it clearer that this world urgently needed entertainment.
*Kenichi's POV*
When I woke up, the first thing I did was go jogging, which in my case is more like running a marathon than jogging.
Luckily for me, since the story of To Love-Ru hadn't officially started and there were no aliens lurking around, the city of Sainan was incredibly quiet, I could even go jogging without any worries.
After a few hours I went back home, took a quick shower and started to have breakfast, it's amazing how my cooking skills improve more and more as I cook more and more.
It must be admitted that the Hanma body is incredible, not only can it easily replicate fighting styles, it also easily adapts to almost any type of physical activity, be it cooking or writing.
After eating I went down to the training room and started my routine, which unlike yesterday's which was just to get my body used to training, this one was much more intense, I tried pushing my body to its limits several times and honestly I underestimated my physical capabilities quite a bit, I even turned on gravity X2, when I finally did it I started to show signs of tiredness.
The rest of the afternoon went by normally.
Until a certain time I took a shower and left my house, my goal was to go buy new clothes, no matter how hard I tried, the only thing that looked good on me was my dad's clothes.
Luckily the director, although perverted, wasn't a bad guy, I just had to explain the situation a little with some innocent lies and he quickly sent me a new uniform in my size. Honestly I was a little surprised, I thought he was only like that with women, well now that I think about it, in the story of To Love-Ru apart from chasing girls half naked he wasn't a bad guy, you could say that like me he was a background character who was only there for humorous situations.
I spent a few hours choosing, luckily I still had enough money left, so I started buying good quality clothes.
Although there was something that caught my attention.
For some strange reason all the women were staring at me with a blush on their faces, listen to me I'm not a dense protagonist it's obvious that I know they're looking at me for my new appearance, but it's really to exaggerate so much.
I can even feel the murderous glances of the men, if it was Rito or some other protagonist I would probably feel nervous or intimidated, but the moment I looked back at them they all immediately ran away like scared animals, this is another of the advantages of the Hanma blood, the simple fact of walking is enough for normal guys to know that I am not someone they can mess with without paying the consequences.
After buying several sets of clothes I decided to go to the hair salon, honestly I was not a big fan of long hair, thanks to the Hanma blood I now had hair as long as Yuujirou's the only difference is that mine was black.
After they cut it, I asked for a hairstyle a bit similar to the one I had before, although to add style I asked for a fringe a bit long on the right side of my face.
When I looked in the mirror I was quite surprised, it turns out I looked like Tetsurō Kuroo, a secondary character from a Volleyball anime called Haikyuu, well now that I think about it, his hairstyle was quite similar to the one he had before, it wasn't exactly his vivid image but it looked quite similar to me, the biggest difference is that he always had his eyes half-closed and he also had some feline features.
Kenichi: (I think I understand now why women were looking at me so much, I'm not exactly the most handsome guy in the world, but my new appearance along with the presence I release as a Hanma make me look quite masculine)
I quickly paid for the haircut and left, although the hairdresser desperately asked for my number, obviously I ignored her, since I had that fight with Yarizui-senpai I feel that normal women don't attract my attention as much anymore.
With nothing else to do I was ready to go back home and get ready to go to school tomorrow, but when I was returning I came across a scene that was usually only seen in the anime.
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