Hours After Kayaba's announcement
The dim glow of a triple-monitor setup filled the small room with cold blue light.
Empty ramen cups were stacked beside a mechanical keyboard. Crushed energy drink cans rolled lazily whenever the desk vibrated.
Kaito Takahashi—better known online as Hamikaze Ouri, one of Japan's most famous Vtuber—leaned back in his chair, one leg propped against the desk.
Every monitor showed something different.
News broadcasts. Livestream reactions. Social media feeds refreshing fast.
Everywhere I looked, it was the same thing.
Sword Art Online.
The SAO Incident had swallowed the entire internet in a matter of hours.
And I let out a long breath.
"…Sigh."
I reached for my keyboard and quick alt-tabbed, closing the flood of mainstream media coverage.
I opened something far more interesting.
8-Kun; One of the darkest, most chaotic corners of the internet.
The page loaded, Instant madness.
Threads were multiplying by the second.
Conspiracies, panic, technical speculation, leaked data dumps, anonymous whistleblowers claiming inside knowledge.
And it was pure, unfiltered chaos.
My eyes skimmed the screen.
"The thread already has… millions of replies." The number kept climbing in real time.
I leaned forward slightly, scrolling, several clips were embedded in the thread.
"hmm… some streamers just collapsed live and died…"
I scroll through endless speculation; several clips were embedded in the thread.
I didn't react much, my expression barely changed and I still kept scrolling.
Then a new thread appeared at the top of the board.
GOVERNMENT INTERROGATION CONFIRMED
Anonymous posts claimed Argus employees were being detained in undisclosed facilities.
I clicked another link.
A news article loaded.
A video thumbnail blinked on screen.
I clicked it.
Japan Breaking News – The Prime Minister Speaks
The NHK livestream appeared.
Japan's Prime Minister stood stiffly behind a podium.
Bright press lights washed the color from his face, making him look older than usual.
His expression was tight and controlled.
But the strain was obvious.
"To the people of Japan… and to the international community…" He paused briefly.
"…we sincerely apologize."
The room erupted and the reporters shouted over each other, the Prime Minister raised a hand, trying to maintain control.
The camera zoomed slightly closer, then he dropped the announcement.
"We will be constructing a specialized medical facility to house the victims of this incident."
The room fell slightly quieter.
"Players currently connected to the NerveGear will be transferred to these facilities where they will be monitored twenty-four hours a day. Their vital signs will be carefully maintained until a safe solution can be found."
I leaned forward in my chair.
"A whole damn facility…"
I chuckled under my breath.
"The government's really freaking out, huh."
The broadcast shifted to expert commentary.
A scientist appeared on screen.
"The NerveGear was originally praised as a revolutionary technological breakthrough," said Dr. Hayashi, a neural interface specialist.
Behind him, diagrams of the device filled the screen.
I clicked my tongue "Tch! I've seen this already"
I switch to another broadcast.
This time is an interview of a foreign military official.
"We've thrown everything at it," said a U.S. cyberwarfare officer, he shook his head.
"None of it works."
The next speaker besides him was a systems engineer.
"The Sword Art Online servers aren't connected to the public internet," he explained.
"Kayaba designed a completely closed, self-sustaining network." He paused before finishing the sentence. "It's isolated from the outside world."
Then I switched it again.
Images of hospitals and doctors examining unconscious players.
Parents crying as reporters shoved microphones in their faces, international tech teams working around the clock, governments trying to break into SAO's system.
And failing over.
I leaned back on my chair again.
For a moment, the room was silent except for the soft hum of my computer fans.
My eyes drifted back to the endless chaos on 8-Kun.
Speculation, fear, Hopeless theories.
I smirked.
"Hmm…"
He tapped his finger on the desk.
"This seems fun."
.
.
---
.
.
Clang.
The sound rang sharply through the forest as my blade cut cleanly through the goblin's chest. The strike was precise. Steel flashed for only a moment before the creature split apart.
Its HP bar dropped instantly to zero.
The goblin froze, its body dissolving into a cloud of glowing red polygons that scattered into the air like shattered glass.
A soft chime followed.
A light-blue window appeared in front of me.
EXP +5
I lowered my sword slowly.
The forest around me swallowed the sound of the battle almost immediately. Tall trees stretched high above, their leaves forming a thick canopy that dimmed the sunlight into scattered beams. The air smelled of damp earth and moss, and somewhere deeper in the woods, distant monster cries echoed faintly between the trunks.
Too beautiful for a place where dying meant dying for real.
I stepped back from where the goblin had disappeared and I adjusting my grip on the hilt.
My breathing stayed calm but my fingers trembled slightly.
"I've been grinding none stop for more than ten hours now…"
I glanced up at the fading light filtering through the leaves.
Time felt strange here, slower, longer or maybe, it was just the exhaustion creeping into My body.
Kirito wiped the blade against the grass before returning it to a ready stance.
"Grinding…"
That word felt wrong now.
Before today, grinding meant chasing experience points, rare drops, new gear.
Progress.
Now the forest felt different.
Every rustle of leaves made my shoulders tense. Every shadow between the trees looked like another monster waiting to jump out.
My eyes scanned the woods carefully.
Listening, and waiting.
"I'm not fighting for EXP anymore."
"I'm not hunting rare items."
A faint breeze moved through the forest, making the branches whisper above me.
I tightened my grip on the sword…
There was no excitement left in it.
No fun.
Only survival.
I…
I'm fighting to stay alive now…
I took a deep breath again, to release my anxiety and worries.
"sigh..."
The air in the forest felt thick in my lungs, heavy with the scent of damp soil and crushed leaves. The battle had ended minutes ago, but my body still hadn't caught up with that fact. My shoulders remained tense, and my grip around the sword refused to loosen.
So, this is what kayaba were saying that we can feel exhaustion now.
This eerily too real, I wonder if I feel less exhausted as I level up and improve my stats.
And, that goblin…
It felt stronger.
Stronger than the ones from the beta.
I frowned; replaying the fight in my head, the way its strikes landed, the speed of its swings.
Did he change the numbers?
Did Kayaba increase the HP and DPS of the mobs?
The thought alone made me frightened. If the monsters were stronger than the beta, then everything I thought I knew about this game might already be outdated.
I opened my inventory to check if I have something useful.
The translucent window flickered into existence in front of me.
Rows of items filled the grid and most of them were useless.
Goblin fangs. Torn cloth. Rusted fragments of weapons. Trash loot.
Items meant to be dumped at NPC vendors for silver coins, my eyes moved across the list carefully.
A few low-quality healing potions sat near the bottom, not much.
And I think he decrease the Rare Drops from the monsters, but this is better than nothing.
I closed the window halfway, staring blankly at the forest floor while a thought slowly pushed its way through the fog in my mind.
There was something important I needed to do.
Something obvious.
Something I should've checked hours ago.
Then it hit me.
"AH!"
The shout burst out of me before I could stop it.
"I forgot to check the quest!"
My voice echoed between the trees, bouncing through the forest like a stone thrown into still water.
I froze; For a moment I simply stood there, listening.
The forest answered with silence.
Only the faint rustling of leaves above.
My heart pounded harder.
The quest.
Of course.
The most important thing at the start of any MMO was the main quest line. Every developer designed it that way. It guided players through the early stages, gave beginner equipment, basic weapons, sometimes even armor strong enough to survive the first few zones.
Without it, progression became painfully slow. Or impossible.
I opened the menu again, hands moving faster now.
Please…
My chest felt tight as I scrolled through the interface.
Please… it should be here.
My heartbeat thumped loudly in my ears.
Come on… It has to be somewhere.
A bitter thought slipped into my mind.
I wish Kayaba didn't strip everything away just to make the game harder, just to trap us here forever.
My breathing grew uneven.
No.
I clenched my jaw.
I don't need those thoughts right now.
Thinking about the reality of this place—the deaths, the traps, the impossibility of escape—would only make my hands shake more.
I forced myself to focus.
Menu, quest log, scroll.
Then—There it was.
A glowing yellow icon with a question mark.
The main quest marker.
For a moment I just stared at it, stunned.
Then the tension snapped.
"YESSSS!!!!!"
My voice tore through the forest, louder this time, raw with relief.
The echo carried far between the trees.
And for the first time since the announcement…
I felt a small spark of hope.
I opened the map.
A translucent screen unfolded in front of my eyes, glowing faintly in the dim forest light. The interface hovered in midair like a pane of glass, thin lines tracing the terrain in pale blue.
A small blinking arrow marked my position.
"I see…"
My chest tightened the moment I recognized the terrain layout.
My hunch was right.
I was deep inside Blackroot Grove Forest.
The map zoomed slightly as I focused on it, revealing more detail—twisting paths between dense clusters of trees, shaded zones where monsters frequently spawned, and the long stretch of wilderness separating me from the starting cities.
That explained the goblins and, too many of them.
Not just roaming patrols either. Organized clusters.
This part of the forest was known even during the beta.
One of the most dangerous areas on Floor One.
The mobs here had the highest damage in the entire starting region, if a level 1 or 2 player with a white grade gear with lower enhancement and wandered here, they'll easily get crashed and meet their ends here.
And I got sent straight into the deepest section, by the teleportation event.
My eyes drifted across the map again.
Far to the south, barely visible at the edge of the display, was a familiar marker.
Renteia Empire – Town of Beginnings
The capital of the first floor.
Where the main quest chain began, and the main mission of every player right now is to get there safely and gather to make groups.
The distance between my arrow and the city marker stretched across half the map.
I swallowed slowly.
That's… hours away.
Even if I ran without stopping, avoiding fights, it would still take a long time to reach it.
And avoiding fights here is difficult.
The forest was dense. Monsters spawned constantly.
I closed the map and I tapped the quest window, selecting "Track Objective."
In every MMO, that command drew a glowing blue navigation line across the ground, guiding players to the next NPC.
Nothing happened.
The forest floor stayed the same.
No guiding light, no path.
"Huh!?"
My eyes darted across the interface again, pressing the command a second time and; still nothing, a cold weight settled in my chest, don't tell me… Kayaba removed it.
Of course, he did.
My pulse quickened as the silent forest closed in around me.
No guidance system, I quickly opened my inventory instead.
The grid of items appeared instantly.
Potions filled the lower rows.
I started counting.
"Thirty-two bottles of Low-Quality HP Potions."
Each one restored 350 HP.
"Sixteen Medium-Grade HP Potions."
Those restored 500 HP each.
"Not bad."
Actually… much better than most players right now, because I had been grinding for more than ten hours.
Back then in the beta I was preparing for boss fights.
Now I'm preparing to survive.
Potions like these were supposed to be disposable.
During the beta they were everywhere, drops were common, they sell it to NPC vendors cheaply.
Players would carry hundreds and burn through them without thinking.
But that was before today, before the death game.
I could already imagine what the market in the Town of Beginnings looked like right now.
Chaos and scarcity.
No one would be stupid enough to sell healing potions anymore.
They were worth more than money now.
They were life.
I closed the inventory and checked my status window.
Level: 5, HP: 540, Defense Points: 20, My eyes lingered on the HP number.
Level one players usually started around 350 HP if they built for damage.
Tank builds started with slightly more, about 365 HP and plus three extra defense points than any other class.
Not a huge difference, but in a fight those numbers mattered.
Every point mattered, every potion mattered, every mistake mattered.
My heart beat faster just thinking about it.
A goblin in this forest could deal around 25 to 40 damage with a clean hit.
Five or seven hits in a row without reacting…
That could drop a beginner instantly.
Level 5.
The Experience points is now are lower than ever then the beta test, I should've been level 10 or 12 by now with a lot of low-grade potions, it's harder to gain levels.
And here I was, deep inside the most dangerous region of Floor One.
Alone.
Then another thought slipped into my mind.
Klein…
I slowly lifted my gaze toward the sky.
The forest canopy only allowed fragments of blue to show through the leaves, I stared at the pale strip of sky between the branches.
"I hope…"
The words caught in my throat, my grip around the sword hardened.
"I hope you're still alive."
Then suddenly I heard a cry for help, not too far away from my location.
"HELP ME!!! PLEASE—SOMEONE—I NEED HELP!!!"
The voice tore through the trees.
He's voice raw, panicked.
Hoarse from shouting too long.
My head snapped toward the sound before my brain could even process what I was doing.
Someone was nearby.
And they were in trouble.
I ran.
Branches whipped past my shoulders as I pushed through the undergrowth, boots crunching against fallen leaves and roots; I didn't check the minimap, the voice was close enough to follow by instinct.
"HELP—!"
The shout broke into a cough.
I slowed just before the clearing and crouched behind a thick cluster of bushes.
Then I saw him.
He wasn't a heavily armored knight like the frontline players.
He looked more like a Thief Class.
Messy blond hair poked out from beneath a dark gray ribbed beanie. His eyes—bright teal even from a distance—darted frantically around the clearing.
A dark yellow cloak draped over his shoulders, the thick collar wrapped around his neck like a scarf. It hung almost to his calves, shifting wildly every time he moved.
Under it was a light metal chestplate over a pale yellow tunic.
Light armor.
A speed-oriented build.
A brown leather belt strapped around his waist held small pouches and gear. Fingerless gloves gripped the hilt of a short curved sword designed for fast slashes rather than heavy strikes.
A metal bracer protected one forearm.
Loose trousers tucked into simple black boots.
Then I saw what he was fighting.
My jaw dropped.
Two goblins stood in front of him, an armored goblin and it's not the normal ones I'd been grinding.
They have helmets, metal shoulder guards each carried a short iron sword.
Elite mobs.
Behind them stood three more goblins gripping thick wooden branches the size of clubs.
Total of five enemies.
The blond player was already exhausted, his HP bar hovered dangerously low in red.
The elite goblins stepped closer.
The guy staggered back, his face pale, eyes glassy with fear.
My body went cold.
My potions… were enough to reach the Town of Beginnings if I left now.
My brain tried to calculate the risk.
I checked my inventory again; I have few different types of potions. A sixteen Medium-Grade HP Potions, thirty-two bottles of Low-Quality HP Potions, ok this is good enough to survive in that fight.
And the other type of potions is to de-buff the enemies, ten Damage De-buff potions, six Armor Defense De-buffs, nine Life Drain potions, each potion de-buff duration is twenty minutes. I'll need to use this now too one shot normal three goblins.
And my buff Scrolls are Attack Speed plus one, Extra Damage plus one, Movement Speed plus two and Crit Hit Rate plus two percent, all the scroll buffs are in sixty minutes duration.
I've already used half of it because I've been fighting for ten hours now, but if I'm smart enough, I can still make it.
The blond player raised his sword weakly, barely able to keep it steady and he looked like he was about to cry.
I clenched my teeth.
Damn it.
I instantly used my buff scrolls and potions.
I grabbed a small pebble from the ground.
As soon as I locked onto the nearest elite goblin, the stone in my fingers began glowing red.
Sword skill activation.
Even improvised objects could trigger certain mechanics if thrown correctly.
My body automatically shifted into the stance.
Right arm pulled back. shoulders angled; the elite goblin lifted its sword.
About to finish him.
I threw.
The pebble streaked forward like a bullet.
CLANG.
It smashed against the goblin's helmet.
The sound rang across the clearing.
All five monsters froze and their eyes scanned the woods immediately.
Then their heads snapped toward the bushes.
Now.
My legs exploded forward.
Skill Activate — Dash I
A burst of acceleration shot through my body, the system pulling me across the clearing faster than my natural speed allowed.
The distance vanished instantly.
The goblins were still turning when I reached one of them behind his back.
I aimed for the weakest spot of their body first.
Finishing the normal goblins, before the elite goblins, because it's easier to kill the normal one and to reduce damage per-hit taken from them.
My blade flashed.
Sword Skill — Quick Slash I; a sharp blue arc cut through the air.
The sword carved cleanly across the first goblin's chest, Its HP bar collapsed instantly that means, I have a massive crit just now.
That's good.
The creature shattered into red polygons.
One down and four to go.
Don't stop, I pivoted.
The system pulled my arm into the next attack before I could hesitate.
Sword Skill — Double Slash I; two rapid strikes.
I need to aim the neck for sure crit.
The blade bit into the second goblin's shoulder and neck in a single flowing motion.
Its HP bar crashed to zero.
The monster exploded into fragments of crimson light.
Two down. Three left.
The third goblin swings at me first.
It lunged at me with its crude wooden club, the thick branch whistling through the air toward my head.
I took a damage.
It's too fast to block cleanly, it's inevitable not to get hit.
I'm only just a level 5, and it's not significant enough to worry… no I need to worry, because this could've been my death.
I quickly activate Roll I, the system responded instantly.
My body dropped and twisted sideways, momentum carrying me across the ground in a tight one-meter roll. Leaves and dirt scraped against my armor as the goblin's club smashed down where I had been standing a split second earlier.
The impact cracked loudly against the forest floor.
A faint blue shimmer wrapped around my body.
Damage Reduction Buff Eight Percent—Duration: Three Seconds
Stamina Cost—Eight
Cooldown— Two Seconds
My stamina bar dipped slightly.
Thank goodness this thing doesn't cost mana.
In a prolonged fight, stamina regenerated naturally. Mana didn't.
That small difference meant survival.
I came out of the roll already moving.
The goblin that swung the club was off balance, its arms still recovering from the missed strike for a brief moment.
A perfect opening.
I locked onto the target.
My stance shifted automatically as the system prepared the next skill.
Sword Skill—Penetrate I
A sharp red glow ran along my blade.
My arm thrust forward.
The movement wasn't just fast—it was mechanically precise, the game forcing the exact trajectory needed to maximize damage.
To make a sure crit, I need to just focus on its vital points and this crit is high enough to kill the goblin in one skill.
The blade punched straight into the goblin's back head.
Right at the base of the skull.
A flash of red numbers pop-up.
CRITICAL HIT
The goblin's HP bar collapsed in a single instant.
Its body froze.
Then shattered apart into a violent burst of red polygons that scattered into the air like fragments of broken glass.
Three down.
Two left.