Chapter 36: Link Start.

Aster and Koro Sensei found themselves near the start of the queue at the store selling the Nerve Gear and SAO, thank God that it was early in the morning and not many were present there by then to notice the whole arrival by a beam of the light entrance.

They found themselves in Setagaya, Tokyo. Koro Sensei started by looking the place up in the Laptop version of the chat, while Aster looked at Koro Sensei's work. In a few minutes, Koro Sensei was done with fixing both their identities and even did a solid groundwork as well.

No one could now doubt that they were people who just came to this world. Koro Sensei had fixed them all the necessary certificates and registrations while he also got them a nice two-storeyed building with a basement, the building is around 4000 square feet and the property is 5000.

"When did you start this techie stuff?" Aster asked looking at Koro Sensei's handiwork.

"Well, if you might remember that I had an AI called Ritsu-chan, and this world being a digitalized one made it even better for me to make us the documents we might need. So, I fixed us birth certificates, school certificates, and other identity papers and cards."

"So, the setting goes like this, we are both orphans, while you don't have any background being raised in the church orphanage and my parents dying in a car accident. Then, my grandparents took care of me and then died somewhere when I was in High School. My parents were settled in England while you were from there, we are childhood friends from middle school, who went to the same Highschool as well."

"So, we are supposed to be graduates with a big house, why did you get such a big place?" Aster asked.

"That my dear friend is to make a base, I plan a cafe and bar for the ground floor, we can keep the basement for the fun stuff, while the first floor can be our residential place. I fixed us all the permits like the land, business, bar, and liquor trading as well. The building used to be a Japanese sweet shop, so you can modify it to your liking." Koro Sensei smiled.

"Invest in some stocks as well, since we are doing this, let's do it nicely, we can use it as a base or maybe a holiday home. We can become proper tycoons as long as we play our cards right." Aster spoke with ambition sparking in his ice-blue eyes.

"Alright, you know the funny coincidence is that the old couple that lived here were Korogane as well?" Koro Sensei asked with a smile.

The two looked at each other and Koro Sensei nodded, gesturing that he was not joking and they laughed at the coincidence.

They saw a familiar face with a few mobs that walked by to join the queue. With reddish hair spiked upwards in office attire with a red bandana followed by an otaku office-worker bunch, sure enough, it was Klein and the Furikazan.

They saw Koro Sensei and Aster looking at them with a smile on their faces and wondered, 'why on earth are these super normies looking at us like they don't despise us?'

Klein being the most sociable guy among them, walked up to Aster and asked, "you don't look to be from around these parts, do we know each other?"

"You just don't remember me, Klein, my grandparents used to live near the Kinuta Park, you remember the old couple from the Japanese sweets shop, right?" Koro Sensei asked.

"Wait you are that grandpa's family, if I remember he was a Koro..." Klein scratched his beard, as he tried to force his memory.

"Korogane, well, my name is Ryushi Korogane and I seem to remember you, well, it would be hard to forget about that hairdo and bandana, right?" Koro Sensei smiled.

"HAHAHA~ That's true though, sorry I don't remember you, my name is Tsuboi Ryutaro. Let's meet up in the game, my IGN is Klein." Klein smiled as he scratched the back of his head.

"Let me introduce myself as well, Aster Frost, at your service." Aster extended his hand toward Klein, who took it and gave it a shake with a smile.

"We plan to reopen the shop and start a bar and cafe, come visit us when we open." Koro Sensei smiled.

Klein walked back to his friends as the shutters got lifted, Aster and Koro Sensei bought themselves two units of Nervegear and walked back to their newly acquired home, as they listed the things they would have to buy.

"We don't need much, but we can let the construction company start the work and finish the job while we play the game. We have to make sure that we don't keep valuables in the room, well, nobody would mind since we are just settling here for a week before the game traps us." Aster planned.

"But we have to get the essentials running, the building was maintained, but it still needs the necessities. We can leave our hospitalization to the mayor's men, who would come to deliver us the residential papers the next morning after the game starts. You can make a clone to act as the maid we brought back. That would be perfect as she can watch over for the construction and other stuff while we are busy playing." Koro Sensei suggested as they walked into the supermarket to get the stuff.

They walked to the Kinuta Park where their newly purchased house was and found the place to be quite well maintained. They rang the doorbell and waited for the groundskeeper to answer the door. The groundskeeper was a middle-aged man who worked for a company that maintains buildings and housing complexes for their owners.

The boys found the place quite furnished but needs to be renovated quite a bit to fit their tastes, Aster was already looking up designs for the cafe and home, they gave the man a nice tip for his services and settled in after checking that everything was in proper order.

They made contracts with construction and renovation companies to get their place remodeled and refurbished. Aster made a maid clone with his ice powers and changed it to a homunculus from an ice figure with transmutation. The boys looked at the finished product and needless to say, they were quite satisfied with what they had.

Koro Sensei finished the paperwork for her as well and she was named, Roberta, for some reason they did not know but they liked the name and it stuck along. [pic here.]

They handed over all the necessary accounts and documents to Roberta and taught her how to manage the estate and the people along with the unsavory kind. She was a sentient being that had undying loyalty towards her masters Aster and Koro Sensei.

She learned really fast and the boys also got her some simple defense training and arranged a few workers to manage the house and provide security. Days passed and the day when Sword Art Online officially launched came, the boys relaxed on the new recliners and put on their Nerve Gears.

The Nerve Gear powered on and started with the character design and calibration...

[POWER ON.]

[CHEKING FILES AND CONNECTION...]

[TOUCH...OK.]

[SIGHT...OK.]

[HEARING...OK.]

[SMELL...OK.]

[TASTE...OK/]

[CHARACHTER REGISTRATION...]

[SELECT CHARACTER NAME ....]

[Dragon] / [Frost]

The clock hit 15:00.

[LINK START !]

The lights went out and the party started.

WELCOME TO Sword Art Online !

Aster<Frost> looked around to find himself in a huge plaza with a lot of people in it, he looked around and found Koro Sensei <Dragon> who was similarly looking around for him.

[A/N: I am going to use the IGNs for this Quest since the anime was designed like that.]

Walking up there, Frost saw Dragon holding a guidebook in his hands.

"So, let's go buy the starting kits for now..." Dragon smiled and the two left for shopping. Their characters were clumsily made, as they knew that their characters would change back to their original forms.

Half an hour passed by as they walked through the market before the bell started chiming and they were force-teleported to the plaza once again.

With a super ominous entrance, the Game Master appeared above the players in a red shroud with no face.

"Dear Players, welcome to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihiko and as of now, I am the only one who can control this world." said the cloaked figure of Kayaba.

A cacophonous round of whispering later, the man continued again, "I am sure that you all have realized that the LOG OUT button is missing from the main menu. But this is not a defect in the game, I repeat, this is not a defect in the game, but a key feature of the game Sword Art Online."

"You cannot LOG OUT of the game by your own will and no one outside can remove or SHUT DOWN the NERVE GEAR, should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the Nerve Gear will emit powerful microwaves that will destroy your brains and thus ending your lives."

"Unfortunately, there have been several instances where the player's friends and family members have ignored this warning and attempted to forcibly remove the NERVE GEAR. As a result, 213 players have exited permanently, both from Aincrad and the real world."

News snips from across the world floated on small windows around the Game Master as he continued, "As you can see, organizations from across the world are reporting on this problem and the multiple deaths caused by this."

"So, I would like you all to focus on clearing the game. but be sure to keep this in mind that there is no longer any function to revive someone in the GAME, the instant your HP bar hits zero, your avatar will be erased, and simultaneously, the NERVE GEAR will destroy your brain."

"The only condition for your escape is to clear the game, you are currently on the lowest floor of the Aincrad, Floor 1, if you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the Final Boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game."

"And finally, I have given you all a present in your Item Storage, please see for yourselves. Now, you might be wondering 'why?', why would Kayaba Akihito, the developer of Sword Art Online, do something like this?"

"My goal has already been achieved, I created this world for the sole reason to create it and now that it has been done, this ends the tutorial of the game Sword Art Online. I wish all of you have fortune on your side." Kayaba blew away in smoke after finishing his speech.

"Wow, that was a performance that really beats watching it on the screen." Dragon chuckled.

"That it does my friend, that it does... Well, now that we look normal again, let's start hunting some wolves before the others crowd the place out." Frost smiled as they started walking out of the plaza.