Link Start!

November 6, 2022, in the early morning of hot summer, Roppongi, Tokyo.

A bored man impatiently sat in front of his PC, waiting for the first VRMMORPG to be released. 

This bored man's name was Soma Tatsumi, 5'5, brown hair, 24 years old, unemployed.

He had played countless video games but had never been looking forward to playing them as much as this one.

This one game is called 'Sword Art Online', the first Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role Play Game, or in short, VRMMORPG. It didn't take a geek to know how historical-worth experience this was, due to the game's ridiculous marketing; the TV, Internet, magazines, billboards, buses, roadside poles, even public toilets... almost every place promoted the game. 

This Virtual Reality's supporting technology was called the Nerve Gear, an equipment that unlike its previous generation only supported a flat screen and a controller, this used a helmet covering the entire head and half the face.

Once the gear strapped into your chin, by simply stating << Link Start>>, all the world's noises would quiet down as your consciousness faded into black, then once passing through a floating rainbow ring, you had entered a whole different world made of digital data.

Then, countless transceivers generated multilayer electrical fields directly connected to the user's brain, transmitting information straight to the central, thus not only affecting eyes and ears but also a sense of touch, smell, tastes, etc...

Moreover, it also blocked and rerouted the commands that the brain sent through the spinal cord, allowing you to run inside the VR without running into a wall in reality.

In other words, this piece of equipment brought the concept of <<Full Dive>> into existence by successfully creating Virtual Reality, which fantasy sci-fi most of us could only fantasize about in the past. 

However, before the creation of << Sword Art Online >>, there were only boring games such as puzzles and educational stuff, hence many hardcore gamers still faithfully to PC and consoles.

Now, they could finally move on, with the first VRMMORPG ever to be released, they would no longer walk 100 meters only to meet an invisible wall, but the entire other world to be explored.

With << Sword Art Online >>, players lived inside a floating castle consisting of 100 floors, but it wasn't your typical stone and steel castle, because each floor contained a mini world with countless different landscapes, from plain greenfield to snow mountain range.

The objective of the game was for the players to brandish their way to the top floor with their swords and other weapons, while 'magic' was cast aside, the game offered countless skills instead, and there were a variety of them for example combat skills, productive skills, daily skills, etc...

As the information was steadily revealed, the gamer's world got crazier, going all out on securing their chance to experience the game, in just the third day of release, a total of one thousand copies were sold out, however, you could say some buyers were probably scalpers, but it didn't matter since Tatsumi already got his own, one perk of being beta tester was he didn't have to wait in a long line. 

... 5 minutes away from the game to start, Tatsumi had put on his Nerve Gear and laid on his bed, he had told his surrogate sister and parents to not bother him, not that he thought they would care anyway. 

After tasting the real experience of the Virtual Reality world, Tatsumi no longer had any caring for 'real' stuff, he was more alive within this world made of data, than the world outside.

4 minutes left... 3... 2... 1...

"Link Start!"

Tatsumi only felt he entered a peculiar Void space filled with luminous bodies of various shapes, they were shining brightly, beautiful straight through the soul.

He was very comfortable like he was coming home.

"Welcome to Sword Art Online, would you want to use the old account or create a new one?" 

At the same time...

Somewhere in Tokyo, a middle-aged man stood in front of a wall window, his eyebrows were slightly sad.

"Director..." outside of his room, a familiar voice resounded.

"Come in," it took a while for the man to respond.

Soon, the door to his room was opened and revealed a gorgeous lady, she had a smile on the corner of her lips, and proudful eyes directed solely at the man before her.

"Sword Art Online started synchronizing players from all over the country 10 minutes ago, everything is running well and as expected, no accidents have happened..." her voice was gentle but steady and full of energy.

"Hmm..." the man gave a slight nod.

"... Shouldn't you be more excited? It is your success..." 

"... Is it?" 

"Huh?"

The man turned around, giving the lady a light smile, and said, "I'm sorry, you're right, Rinko."

His voice would soften whenever he called her name, this was a man that no one before him had accomplished such a feat, reaching to the world full of new possibilities.

"Shall we have a glass of wine?" the man said.

"Isn't it too early? With many more people logging in, who knows what kind of problem down the road..."

"Wouldn't you like to celebrate it with me? Beside it just one glass, it's not gonna hurt..." The man walked toward the side.

"... You're right, I guess I'll have one..."

Soon, both man and woman held a glass in their hands while watching the bustling city from the high office. 

"Can you believe? 10 years... it only takes that long to make such a technology leap," the woman said, her glass had been half emptied.

"Virtual Reality has existed a long time before..." the man sipped his drink.

"Yes, but you have perfected it..."

"..."

"The press will want your speech later, shall I pick up your favorite tux?" 

"That will be unnecessary."

"Hehe," the woman giggled slightly.

"What?"

"Nothing, I just... I remember when I first met you, you're nothing but a scrawny gloomy man..." the woman sipped her wine again, then said, "But now, look at you, there is no single person in this country who didn't praise you, and soon the whole world."

"... I'm not doing it for such petty reason..."

"I know, I know, but isn't it amazing? One wouldn't know what they could have accomplished as long as they are having a dream and the will to make it real..."

"... It's still a dream, you know..." 

"Hmm?"

"When you dream, no matter what, you will always wake, no matter how perfect the dream is, once you die, you'll awake..."

"..."

"I... after Aincrad flies... there is something in me, that thinks it is still incomplete..."

"Well, we can add a few updates here and there, you know like some kind of event or something?"

"I have been thinking about it, what's the difference between reality and dream? How to make a dream a reality? A condition where people can live their dream without fear of waking up..."

"Aki?"

"..." the man sipped his drink, then flashed a smile to her, "Sorry, I don't mean to ruin the mood."

"No, I think it's normal to feel unsatisfied, we humans crave perfection, that's why we always continually create and improve things."

"Hmm, thank you, Rinko, it must be quite hard for you..."

"Yes, you're a difficult man, Aki," the woman smiled, "but that's what makes you more charming."

"I'm sorry... for everything," the man looked at her with different eyes, something was amiss, and his tone hinted at a lot of guilt.

"What do you-" At this moment, the woman's cell phone rang, and she quickly picked up.

"Rinko-"

"Assistant Director! Come quick! Something terrible just happened! The players...!"

"What-" Before the woman could process the information, her mind suddenly became dizzy, she swayed on her feet, and almost fell to the floor if not for the man to catch her.

"What's going... I... my strength..."

"Rinko... only by Death, that Life is truly exist, Death is what makes people feels the emotion hidden in their heart."

"Aki, what have you done?!" 

"Creating Reality... my Reality..." the man slowly placed her onto the carpet below, then he stood up, saying with a different voice she never heard before. 

A voice, mixed with anguish, but also a lot of joy.

"Welcome... to Aincrad."