1 Prologue: The Day Everything Changed

Wednesday, August 5th, 2020

The day I would never forget.

I could still remember it. I sat in front of my desktop. The window of the PSO2 was active at the time, updating the game as the latest update was to be released on that day. It was still some time before the maintenance was over.

Leaving it aside, I went to take a leak at the bathroom. But then it turned into me spending some time to read some webnovels, manhuas/manga/manhwa/webtoon, and other stuff on my phone. After half an hour, I finished up, sprayed my butt with the bidet to clean it, and flushed the toilet before standing up. Putting my pants back on, I took my phone and left the bathroom.

I proceeded to sat back down on my chair. Putting down my phone, I then took a peek on the screen before I fully focused back at the monitor in front of me. It showed that the update was completed. Seeing at the bottom corner of the launcher still showing that the game was still in maintenance, I proceeded to close the window. Or I was about to, when suddenly, the screen glitched a little and the text at that corner showed that the game has finished its maintenance.

It was weird, given that unlike FFXIV that often could finish its maintenance faster than scheduled, PSO2 always follows its schedule to the letter. It was still around 2 hours before the maintenance was scheduled to be finished, if I remember correctly. My memories is still fuzzy on the exact hour, but I was certain that it was BEFORE the scheduled time.

"Hmm..." As I pondered, I instinctively clicked the START button.

It's a habit that persists after playing both FFXIV and PSO2 for a long time. I then saw the GameGuard on the left corner of the screen already downloading its latest updates while at the center of the screen was the small, rectangular PSO2 splash screen.

After the GameGuard finished its update and authentication, the screen went black, showing that the game has launched. The screen went through the Nvidia Logo and Communication by Vivox. The SEGA logo should've been there and followed by the opening movie for the latest update. However, before I could see the SEGA logo, my vision went black.

"Wait... Is this...-" Before I could even finish my words, I lost the sensation from my body's senses.

I couldn't see anything other than darkness. I felt my mind like being pulled. I couldn't even see my own body. I instantly knew that this was what it felt like to those protagonists from popular Isekai series. But all of this only lasted for a few moments, before everything went bright. So bright, that I felt like it would blind my eyes.

"DAMMIT, IT'S TOO BRIGHT!"

After the light settled down, I opened my eyes and began adjusting myself. Then I saw something weird. My desktop... It was like what I had, but...

"This OS... What is this...?" I asked myself as I then picked up my phone, which was apparently next to my hand on the table.

I had yet to see the desktop's settings yet.

"August 5th... Okay, the date's sti-"

My jaw dropped when I saw the year of the date. The day and month was still the same, but the year... It was 2016.

"Wait... WTF?" I swore as I then checked the about section in the settings of my desktop.

I was flabbergasted.

"ESC-A OS... My God..."

That's right. I'm still on Earth. But, it's the Earth of PSO2's Universe.

It took me around 10 minutes to calm myself down. As I looked around, it was apparent I was alone, and for some time at that. But when I saw the window behind my monitor, I was surprised. It was because that while the room I'm in was similar to the one from the original reality, it's different as it's actually an apartment. That's right, the me in this reality actually lived alone!

"Wow, you one lucky sonuvab*tch. It's mine now though."

Standing up from my chair and immediately went to the mirror that was a few steps to the left from my PC case, I then saw my face.

It was nothing short of getting flabbergasted again. It was the appearance of my avatar in PSO2. Compared to my previous body that was fat to the point of overweight, pimples on my face, a large head and marks from my glasses on the temple sides of my face, this body is instead...

"Holy shit..."

I had glasses on, by it didn't leave any marks on my face. My head was large, but compared to my previous body's, it's slightly smaller. If I had to say, it's diameter is probably around 12 cm (my previous body's head was around 14 cm). Also, those glasses weren't on any prescription. It was only for when he (the me of this reality) was using a PC, it seems.

"YES! SEEMS LIKE THIS BODY DOESN'T HAVE THE SAME ALLERGIES AS WELL!"

I was pretty much happy beyond belief. Not even mentioning the body that's obviously much more fit and trained, the fact that my face is clean was something that I really appreciate. It shows that this new body of mine didn't have any allergies of sorts.

Also, worth noting that before I got here, I was around 23 years old, while my new body is around 16. years old. Man, it felt good to be younger again. Though, it seems like the me in this universe was born a bit later than I was in the original reality.

I sat down again on my chair and began recalling what had transpired from PSO2 in this regard.

"Okay, this is 2016. If I remember correctly, Aether is discovered on this year. And from the looks of it, they did it."

I then immediately searched for any news piece on the discovery of Aether. The results pinged nearly the instant I pressed enter on my keyboard.

"My God... It's actually as fast as those people claim to be."

The news article I clicked on had shown me the info I needed. It was around several months ago that Aether was discovered, and the subsequent rise of ESC-A that toppled many pre-existing services from major companies. Microsoft, Apple, Google, IBM, just to name a few. A lot of these companies were forced to license ESC-A OS and its sub-services instead due to it's capability to utilize the newly-discovered Aether particles.

It was nothing short of a nightmare for those companies, as they nearly collapsed because of the major waves from this newborn company and its services. This particular part was never mentioned by the characters in Episode 4 of the game. Probably, this was because it's already history for them, so they felt that it was a given.

"Let's try to match up..."

I then began searching about news prior to this and found out that indeed, history of this Earth was pretty much identical to that of my original reality (AKA our reality). As it was said, the divergence began this year, when Aether was discovered.

"The president's still the same up to this year, but what about on the next term..."

I pondered as I searched for news on the fate of a lot of games in this reality after the introduction of Aether. As expected, a lot that were MMOs or just about every online game had to be rebuilt from the ground up, and it would take at least 2 years before they would be launched again. But by then, people would more likely play either Offline games or just PSO2.

"The next election would see the rise of those Mother Corps people into power, huh..."

I continued to ponder as I stared at the desktop after closing the news articles and minimized the browser. Then, it hit me.

"Wait recall what Adam Sacred said..."

"Every people that had the ability to manipulate Aether would awaken after the discover of Aether! Then, how about this new body of mine...!"

I immediately stood up and took two steps back from behind my chair. I then recalled on the many martial arts webnovels, manhuas/mahwas that I've read on how to feel the so-called Qi, but in this case, it's Aether.

"Shh... Fuuhh..." I took a deep breath with my nose and slowly breath out from my mouth.

I then began to feel the particles that were in the air around me.

"Since that works, that also means..."

I then began to try and exert my willpower to the Aether, to materialize those Avatar Arms. I imagined myself to materialize a pair of gloves on my hands.

Shiing...

Shiing...

Fwoosh!

As I saw everything happened in front of my eyes, I grew excited. And after a short while, the gloves finished materializing and were fitted on my hands. I gripped with my fingers and moved my palm around.

"Nice, no discomfort."

After that, I exerted my willpower again, but this time to my gloves, with the intent to materialize weapons on my hands. There were several weapons that I wanted to try and materialize.

The first was a normal, generic handgun. As I felt the Aether around me swirling into the palm of my gloves, I could see the framework of the gun being materialized, and after 10 seconds, the gun finished materializing.

"Wait, I can't exactly shoot this thing in the house now, can I?"

The gun's model was formed based on the M9 pistol. I then pulled the slide, and saw the bullets in the chamber of the barrel. The tip of the bullets were obviously akin to the typical 9mm rounds. After that, I ejected the magazine and took a look at the contents of the magazine. It was indeed filled with 9mm rounds.

"Okay, it's safe to assume this is like how it should."

I then dematerialized it and then focused on materializing the second for the test, which was an assault rifle. To be precise, it was an AK-47, or at least the model that I chose of.

I pulled the magazine release near the trigger guard, ejected the magazine, and saw the insides of the magazine. It was a full one, filled with 7.62mm rounds. I then reloaded it back to the rifle and pulled the charging lever.

After that, I continued my tests. I materialized (and dematerialized) several other weapons, such as a Dragunov, a M249 LMG, a China Lake Grenade Launcher, and M1014 Shotgun. The last couple of tests involved a Katana and what's probably a Launcher from PSO2. I remembered the shape and how the launcher functions, but as to its name, I somewhat forgot about it.

It took me around 2 hours before I finished testing my Aether manipulation capabilities.

"By those people's standards, I should be around a Lvl. 2 Aether User." I thought as I sat down, before the thought hit me, again.

"Holy shit. This means..."

As I pulled the desktop background, I saw it.

PSO2. Phantasy Star Online 2.

It almost felt bizarre that I know it's different compared to the one from the original reality, but it's almost the same as well. I went full bruh because of that.

Before my body could instinctively open the launcher, I halted myself.

"Wait... 12 years prior to Episode 4, which was in AP 241 that's equivalent to 2028 AD..."

"I thought I had gotten to the time when Matoi got time traveled, but seems like I'm late by a year, considering that 2016 AD is equivalent to AP 229." I frowned on that thought.

This meant that there's still a chance that Ash might exist. For those who don't know, Ash is the protagonist of PSO2: Episode Oracle, or in other words, he's the placeholder of the player's character in the game back in the original reality.

"But wait... There's also another possibility..."

I then thought of what had just happened to myself. There was one possibility that I had neglected: That was, the original mind of this body, or in other words, the original me of this universe. As to why I thought of this...

"Considering that for Persona to exist, the MC had to exist prior. In other words, the alter-timeline me could exist bearing the alter-original me, while the current me that's not of this universe could still exist!"

After this thought, I then didn't hesitate and opened PSO2, clicking START on the launcher. The game's start screen showed after the opening movie and the publisher etc. that preceded the start screen. As I clicked my mouse, chose start the game ,the ship I'm going to, and the Character Creation/Selection part. Then, I paused for a moment.

"Since I can login to the game with my own physical body..."

I focused my willpower to enter the game. And in an instant, everything changed.

I felt like I was pulled into the game, with the usual spark-like ball thingy travelling through what I call the digital corridor. This was at least how it appeared to me.

And after a short while, I saw the text in my eyes: ARKS Ship - Gate Area, with my view changed into something that's familiar, yet strange. I was in the same place that I used to frequent when I'm being idle or was waiting for the Urgent Quests. It felt oddly refreshing.

I shifted myself to look at the clothes that I'm currently wearing. As expected, I'm wearing my home clothes. A typical T-shirt with a short pants and no footwear, all the while my Aether gloves still on my hands.

"... Shit." I swore as I saw some people around me looked at me like I'm some weirdo.

Not that I blame them. I then triggered the Menu for PSO2 as how Hitsugi did, even with her real body. It was still the same. I then checked my character information.

[Character Info]

[Titles /(LOCKED)

Name /Josua

Race /Human

Gender /Male

Main Class / Braver Lv. 1 (75)

Sub-Class / Gunner Lv. 1 (75)

..... ]

"... Are you shittin' me?" I swore again as I saw my chara info sheet.

My title is there, but it's locked, somehow. Putting aside the obvious infos like name, race and gender. The main class and sub-class... It immediately alarmed me. This had a lot of consequences.

"Regius didn't even taught how to use a Katana or Bow at this point in PSO2. How am I gonna explain myself..." I frowned as I pondered on this problematic issue.

The Braver Class was introduced in Episode 2, which is still 9 years away at least in terms of chronological order. This was not even mentioning other things like Photon Arts and etc. that are available in my character info sheet.

"Seems like I gotta pose as a Hunter/Gunner at the meantime, huh..."

After deciding on what to do, I then decided to open my inventory from the menu. I had some suspicions after seeing the chara info sheet.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained..." I mumbled as I opened the inventory and saw the contents listed in it.

It was still filled with my gear from last I left it, prior to the Episode 4 update. Even my clothes that I was wearing at the time was also registered in the inventory.

"..." I was speechless.

This meant that I could use those gears. I could practically disguise myself, in a sense, as an ARKS operative!

"Sheer fucking brilliance..." I mumbled as I then closed the inventory and immediately went to the storage console on the right side.

I opened it and then, I saw it. Every loot that I had gained. My outfits, units, weapons, consumables, key items, PA and Technique discs, and even furniture!

"NICE." I exclaimed as then I recalled that I haven't checked the money I had on hand.

As I opened the menu, I saw the Basic Stats window, and subsequently, the currencies that I had on hand. It was still around 1.5 million Mesetas. There was 400-ish Star Gems, which was fine. But for some reason, I had AC, or Arks Cash. Then I recalled, that I had some money with me, as in real-world money, which was apparently in my pocket for some reason. It was then converted to AC. I suspect that this was something that only happened to me, and not every other Aether User.

The amount of AC was around... 5500 AC. I recalled on seeing the AC being sold in the Microsoft Store back in the original reality.

"The conversion rate is a bit broken here... But I'll take it."

Then, I opened the AC Shop, which was still there, alongside the SG shop. But, the items that were there... They're no longer limited by days. Instead, they were on progressive pricing based on which that I chose. The higher its offered services or whatever, the higher the price. But the premium set though...

"It's all the same now." I mumbled as I clicked on the premium set.

Originally, there were three Premium Sets being sold on the AC shop back in the original reality. It was priced according to how long it would last, from 30 days, to 60 and 90 days. But now, it's only offering one premium set, and it's apparent that it's permanent.

"I feel like this is a bit... Too convenient, but heck, I'll still take it! EL CHEAPO BABY!"

As I pushed to buy the premium set, I saw the AC decline in number by around 2500. After that, I opened the inventory and opened the premium set. One Premium Ticket, one Gold Mission Pass Ticket, Personal Room and Personal Shop tickets. All of them had no day limits or anything like that.

Then, I proceeded to use every single one of those tickets. And with those active, I pretty much cut myself some slack from a lot of the possible work. Not only I could trade with other players, should I ever encounter them, I could even sell stuff on my own shop. Well, if you've played the game, you would know.

With that said and done, then I tried to do something else: equipping my outfit to replace my current clothes. I forgot in all the excitement that I'm barefooted. I finally felt the cold metal floor I was standing on.

"I'm an idiot."

Slightly smacking myself in the head, I then picked the first outfit that I used when I started playing PSO2 when it was launched three months ago on PC in the original reality, the black-colored Kaiser Haut. As soon as I chose the outfit on the unit menu, my clothes were immediately changed. I felt a slight breeze before I felt warm again. The clothes were fitted nicely, and my feet no longer felt cold now that I had shoes on as part of the outfit.

"Wow. This feels even nicer in person."

With that out of the way, I began to fumble on the gears that I could equip at the moment. But before I could get to that, I hear footsteps coming from behind me.

"Welp. I'm screwed." I muttered as said person walked towards me.

As I turned around, I saw a certain person from ARKS that I know well.

Maria. 2nd of the Council of Six, and one of the Even Numbers.