Aincrad, Starting Town.
As flickering virtual light dispersed, Sato's figure appeared on the first floor of Aincrad.
"Phew."
He glanced around and let out a long breath, then opened his friend list.
Kirito, Asuna, Kanna, Megumi…
Everyone was actually online.
Sato raised an eyebrow, then sent a message to Kirito.
[Satoshi: Where are you guys?]
After sending the message, Sato looked around before walking over and sitting by the fountain in the center of the plaza.
Water spouted from the fountain and splashed down with a steady sound, white sprays hitting the surface and forming ripples. Beneath the clear water, colorful koi swam about.
He reached into the water, immediately feeling a cool sensation.
Sato frowned slightly, confusion filling his expression.
The technology of this virtual world was unbelievably advanced, so where exactly had it been developed?
If it had been created in this world, then no matter how tightly it was kept under wraps, there should have been at least some news leaking out.
[Ding dong!]
[Kirito: We're fighting a boss. Come to the fifteenth floor, I'll send you the coordinates!]
[Satoshi: Got it!]
Soon, a marked map was sent over.
Sato quickly got up and headed toward the entrance leading to the upper floors. This was one of Aincrad's most inconvenient aspects. To go up or down, you had to reach the connecting passage between floors before you could teleport.
And almost every floor was like this.
On the way, before Sato even reached the fifteenth floor, the system notification sounded in his ears.
[Congratulations to players Kanna, Kirito, Asuna, Megumi and others for clearing the fifteenth floor!]
[The sixteenth floor of the game world is now open!]
At that moment, Sato was in the central town of the eleventh floor. Quite a few players stopped to listen, then began to murmur in amazement.
"It's those people again. They've already cleared several floors, haven't they?"
"Yeah! They're probably the top beater group in the entire game. I think they cleared the last one too!"
"Have you ever seen that player called Kanna?"
"No, why?"
Sato turned his head and saw two young men chatting not far away.
"Tsk tsk, you haven't even seen that terrifying little girl?"
"A little girl?"
The young man carrying a spear raised an eyebrow at his companion, then showed a look of disgust.
"Ugh, that's creepy."
"Huh? How am I creepy?"
The young man in green armor looked baffled, then twitched his lips and said, "You're the creepy one. I'm just saying she's really strong."
"She's just a little girl. How strong can she be? This game creates characters based on real-world physical ability."
"That's exactly why I think it's impressive!"
"You've never seen how terrifying that little girl is. If you ask me, she might be the strongest in the game. I even suspect she's not a player!"
"How terrifying?"
The green-armored youth scratched his head, then used both hands to gesture a circle about the size of an egg.
"With a fist this small, she casually punched a level fourteen elite monster into a cloud of blood!"
"You're kidding me, right?!"
The spear-wielding youth clearly didn't believe him. "If that little girl were really that terrifying, how terrifying would she be in real life? Punching a car to pieces? What is she, some dragon in disguise?"
Not far away, Sato's expression turned strange as he looked at the spear user.
Sometimes, intuition really was a strange thing.
After the spear user finished speaking, the green-armored youth hesitated, then cautiously glanced around.
Before he could look over, Sato quietly turned away, but continued listening.
"Do you have that feeling?" he asked carefully.
"What feeling?"
"The feeling that… you've gotten stronger in real life!"
"Hahaha! You've been playing too many games and started hallucinating, haven't you?" The spear user froze for a moment, then burst out laughing, patting the green-armored youth on the shoulder.
"Don't go doing anything stupid. What if you think you're invincible and jump off a building?"
"Or you think you got bitten by a spider and can shoot webs now?"
The green-armored youth looked troubled and argued, "But I really feel it!"
"Alright, I'll take you out for a drink. Clear your head!"
"Drinking to clear your head? You've got guts saying that!"
"Haha, enough, let's go!"
Sato silently watched the two leave, his expression turning slightly serious.
Getting stronger in real life… could this be a sign of ability awakening? If that's the case, then Kirito and the others might have reached that point as well.
…
Aincrad, Sixteenth Floor, Plains.
It was an endless expanse of grassland. The terrain rose and fell like waves, dotted with cliffs and weathered stone pillars…
Wind drifted in from somewhere unknown. Passing through holes in the stone pillars, it produced long, echoing tones that blended together into a beautiful melody.
Sato found Kirito and the others on the highest cliff. They were sitting at the edge, gazing out at the scenery.
"Satoshi! Long time no see!"
Asuna waved with a smile.
"Long time no see, Asuna, and… Megumi!"
"Long time no see."
Megumi greeted him calmly. Her tone was always like this, steady and unruffled, giving a sense of quiet ease.
"Sato!"
Kanna ran over, hugging his leg and looking up at him with wide blue eyes that didn't blink.
Sato patted Kanna's head, then smiled and greeted Kirito.
Kirito spoke with a hint of complaint, "Where did you go this whole summer? You didn't log in even once."
"Sorry, I went back to the countryside for the summer and didn't bring my gaming equipment."
Sato explained with a smile.
"This game is so fun, and you still forgot to bring your equipment!"
Kirito rolled his eyes.