SAO: A Day in the Life

Prologue

Author's note: Most of this is already known to people who have watched Aincrad Arc so you can skip most of this (the four last paragraphs are more about the character and the status of the game though). Some details here are, however, only mentioned in the novels and some numbers are extrapolated because there is no specification in said novels.

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In the year 2021, we were all exited for the day that the gaming world would be forever changed: The world had been told about the possibility of virtual reality games and we all anticipated the very milisecond that this revolutionary technology would be released to the world. The idea of being inside of a game - or, at least, having your brain submerge you into this world - was beyond comprehensible for most, including myself and my friends.

Listening to its creator, Akihiko Kayaba, explain how this amazing concept had been made into reality was awe-inspiring, and once I had aspired to be like him in the future.

A year later the means to do such things - the Nervegear - was released for Japan to buy. Of course, I was there to buy it when it came out, along with many thousands of committed gamers. Sadly, the only games for the first few months were educational. I personally liked strategy games, and didn't mind this too much, but there were endless requests for the makers of this system, Argus, to make something that could actually be considered a game to everyone.

In October, this still new tech took another great leap: The first VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) was released. Its name was Sword Art Online, and only a small 10,000 players could enjoy the sensation of actually being in the game they played, rather than watching in boredom as they could do nothing but click the mouse.

A tenth of these were chosen (though it was more of a lucky draw) to be beta testers, including myself. This way I didn't have to wait, as some had, for three days in line so that they could have the game, as I got to keep it after the end of the beta test at the end of August.

To put it into context, the number of players there once were in SAO could constitute 1% of the players in the largest MMORPG.

You may have noticed that I said "there once were". It's not that the players stopped playing, it's that their brains were fried by the Nervegear. Basically, they died because of the giant batteries that made up a third of the system's weight. After finding that out, along with the fact that we were literally stuck in the game until we died or it was cleared, Kayaba stopped being my inspiration.

I became afraid of the game - or more precisely, I was afraid of death, like most people - and stayed for a long time in the Town of Beginnings. After the Army took over and taxes became too expensive to pay, several of my friends and I left for the 27th floor.

It's been a year, and our number has dropped quite drastically, to a miniscule 7 100, with 2 000 deaths in the first month of the game. So far, we've been waiting for the next floor to be cleared, and the next, and the next... Until the clearers reach the 100th floor, or (I hope not but it is entirely possible) they all die. I'm sure I'm not the only one that's starting to wonder: Will that day ever come? If so, how long will it take? They're still trying to clear the 44th floor, but I hear they're getting close.

My friends are happy waiting. They tell me to enjoy the digital world. I can't, thinking about the people that die every day, and whose names are unceremoniously scratched off the Monument of Life... for me, and all these people doing living a decent life with the money we get from a safe job, helping no one but ourselves...

How have I only just realized that I don't deserve the freedom that some are fighting so hard for, and even dying for: in fact none of us do? I don't want to be useless anymore. I don't want to be afraid of this world anymore. Even though I am weak, so much weaker than those on the front line, I can train. I can get stronger. I can learn to fight in this world.