Having traversed countless realms, can you possibly be as clever as me?

"Bro, you really nailed that face!" Klein gave a thumbs up.

"Could you send me the parameters?"

"It's no use sending it, Klein. This game is tied to the helmet, so you can't create a second account." Kirito ruthlessly shattered his illusions from the side.

"Hello, my name is Kirito, and this is Klein."

“My name is…VOX.” The young man paused, then shrugged.

"I just feel that this game is somewhat mediocre. If it's realistic, it's not realistic enough; if it's virtual, it's too cumbersome. I really can't tell whether it's an MMO or an action game."

"Aren't there A.MMO games? They've been around for a long time," Kirito replied.

"Games like Dragon Nest, Vindictus, and Blade & Soul."

"I didn't realize that. I thought Japanese people rarely played foreign PC games," VOX laughed.

"VOX, aren't you Japanese?"

"I'm Ribs Man," he said with a hint of amusement, a name that was never seen before in this era.

Seeing the bewildered Kirito and Klein, he smiled and shrugged.

"You can think of them as people who make money through games."

"A professional gamer?" Klein asked curiously.

"No, it should be said that it is a player who produces virtual items by performing repetitive tasks in the game and then buys and sells them to others with real currency."

Kirito's expression was a little off, because to be honest, these kinds of players, or rather 'studios,' are almost never welcomed by anyone who loves games.

After all, when a large number of studios flood into a game, it means that the production of resources in the wild will be almost monopolized, and the atmosphere in the game will gradually become more competitive, with things like "you're not qualified to raid if you haven't completed the raid content"...

Not to mention that many large studios don't use real people at all, but simply use bots, treating games as a job.

This industry first flourished on the peninsula, but it was undoubtedly the major powers in the west that brought it to its full potential.

Especially in the MMO field, the sheer size and prevalence of player-run studios is undeniable...

—But isn't the NERvGear a limited edition of 10,000 helmets? Is it possible that some studios could still manage to snag a share?

Kirito was a little confused, but out of politeness, he didn't ask any further questions.

But VOX, intrigued, pulled out something that looked like a camera, put his arm around Kirito's shoulder, and snapped a picture.

"What's this? Does this game even have a camera?" Klein asked curiously.

"Similar crystals will be available, but cameras..." Kirito looked strangely at the object that seemed so out of place in the Aincrad art style, and hesitated to speak.

"These are just some small, insignificant things, consider them gifts for you."

VOX smiled and handed the camera to Kirito, then left a message and 'logged off'.

"Hopefully you can keep smiling. By the way... which game developer do you think enjoys making games that involve suffering the most? Anyway, have fun!"

After saying that, he logged off and disappeared. Kirito blinked at the camera in his hand.

Wait, he didn't make any transactions just now? And why doesn't this camera have any item attributes...?

Two beams of blue light suddenly fell, illuminating him and Klein.

They reappeared in the central square of the starting town, which was now crowded with players.

The crowd fell silent, bewildered, and then began to look around in panic.

Soon after, a cacophony of noises began to emanate from various locations, gradually increasing in volume. One could hear repeated exclamations like, "What's going on?", "Can I log out now?", and "Let me log out quickly!"

Kirito didn't know what had happened, but a strange unease made him feel uncomfortable all over.

Then, suddenly, a blood-red patch appeared on the horizon, just like a chessboard.

Between drops of blood, fresh blood seeped continuously, and these drops formed two English phrases.

【Warning】

【SystemAnnou】

Warning: System Announcement

The dripping blood gathered together and quickly formed in the air a cloaked giant nearly twenty meters tall, wearing a deep red cloak.

Kirito recognized it; this kind of magician image should be a GM role played by an ARGUS employee.

"Welcome to Minecraft, players."

The cloaked giant's voice was loud and clear, echoing throughout the entire square, and the players in the central square all looked up at it.

"I think all players have noticed that the logout button has disappeared from the main menu screen. But this is not a problem with the game. Let me repeat: this is not a problem with the game, but a new version of 'Sword Art Online'."

"I removed the game's logout option as one of the main updates for this version. Also, we've adjusted the game system, fixed the pain system, and activated the NERvGear device."

"Anyone who completely 'dies' in the game will have their brains destroyed by the emitted microwaves, stopping all life functions. As for attempts to forcibly remove the helmet, we have already sent a formal text message warning to all your family and friends."

The clamor quickly turned into questioning and cursing; most people didn't believe they couldn't quit a game and thought it was a prank by the game developers.

But no—

As if to prove something, the cloaked giant pointed lightly, and a huge arrow, like a parasol, suddenly fell from the sky, piercing a person in the crowd with the ID POH and leaving him rooted to the spot.

His body did not disappear, nor did a health bar appear, but fresh blood, along with horrifying plasma, flowed from his wounds.

He let out a painful howl that made listeners feel extremely uncomfortable, then struggled for a few seconds before slowly fading away.

On the stone tablet in Blackrock Palace, the inscription of his name shimmered faintly, while beside it, an inconspicuous, tiny stripe of contract slowly flashed and then disappeared—if you looked closely, you could see the four large characters 'User Rules'.

Then, as the strange 'user rules' flashed, it reappeared in the square, but its body seemed to have become paler and shriveled.

His thinking became sluggish, part of his memory was erased, and it seemed as if a part of his soul was forever missing from his body.

"As you can see, the resurrection mechanism in this game has been modified. Each time you are resurrected, your mind will be damaged and altered to some extent. If you die too many times, you will lose your past memories, thoughts, and even feelings."

The cloaked giant spoke in a lighthearted tone.

"Therefore, everyone, please cherish your lives and persevere until you can conquer this world."

After a moment of silence, the crowd erupted in a cacophony of desperate, piercing screams, and someone, from within the crowd, shouted...

"Who the hell are you, you bastard? Kayaba Akihiko?!"

The cloaked giant chuckled softly, then slowly reached out and removed his cloak, revealing a face whose style seemed somewhat out of place in the game, yet was enough to make many veteran players present gasp in shock.

A round face, a full beard, black-rimmed glasses, hands crossed on his chin, revealing a mysterious smile.

"No, I am Hidetaka Miyazaki."

Having transmigrated, the only option is to kill, kill, kill! : 23. How can you play online games without a game studio? (Please vote and recommend!)

babble!!!!

With a loud scream, the giant wild dog slowly collapsed, turning into flowing data and disappearing.

Kirito stopped what he was doing, took a deep breath to calm himself down, and then sat down to rest and recover his SP.

Three days have passed since the server opened.

This deadly game has lasted for a full seventy-two hours.

However, no one has actually died so far.

The mechanism of resurrection is indeed painful. People who are resurrected after death do lose some of their memories and sense of self, and their bodies become more like those of a dead person.

This mechanism, known as 'zombification', leads to a series of problems, including the aforementioned issues, a decrease in attributes, a reduction in the amount of favorability gained from town NPCs, and other negative states that are not yet apparent.

Although it's still a terrible outcome, it's better than dying right away.

Besides that, it becomes even more difficult to navigate the underworld...

Kirito has already experienced death once.

That was when he had just killed a monster, dodged three ambushing wild dogs, and was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief as he rounded a corner, when a huge boulder suddenly fell from above and carried him away!

The feeling of death was extremely terrible and indescribable for Kirito. To put it simply, the process of dying and then being resurrected made him feel as if something had been taken away from him.

Some things inside my body just disappeared.

Kirito looked at the dappled sunlight filtering through the treetops in the distance and wondered if this was just a joke Kayaba Akihiko was playing on them.

However, it didn't feel as eerie as I had imagined. Or rather, although there were many more eerie elements, there weren't as many people screaming in despair as at the beginning—it was just that there were more monsters, more ambushes, and more traps!

If this were Hidetaka Miyazaki, how could this game be so peaceful? Ugh... Although the monster density seems a bit higher, this place is still definitely not dark enough!

Anyway, as a seasoned M, Kirito felt it wasn't flavorful enough, it lacked the soul of the game!

Kirito imagined what it would be like if this were a game by Hidetaka Miyazaki.

He lost the most important side quest on the first floor because he accidentally talked to an NPC in town.

When exploring the ruins map, even though the door in front of you can be kicked open easily, you have to take a big detour because the door cannot be opened from there.

Having no other option, he tried to climb out the window, but once he got through, he discovered three dogs hiding in the corner.

After defeating the dog, he finally found the treasure chest. He opened it and discovered it was a teleportation trap. He was now transported to the 99th floor of the maze.

Now, he must cross the poisonous swamp, walk through a corridor besieged by ninety-nine archers, and light nine lamps in the lava pool to return to the city.

Thinking about this, Kirito couldn't help but laugh at himself.

If it were designed like that, they probably wouldn't be able to finish the game even when they die of old age!

Moreover, the difficulty of Soul Journey is ultimately limited to the limitations of character performance. Many problems arise simply because non-dead characters cannot overcome them. Given SAO's high performance and freedom, there shouldn't be so many issues.

At this moment, Kirito was unaware of how naive his idea was, because when they stepped onto the second floor, they realized that the joke he had just made was no longer a joke.

Seeing that his SP had almost fully recovered, Kirito stood up.

Suddenly, a noise came from afar.

Kirito stood up curiously and went closer, and soon he saw a truly bizarre scene.

A group of people, dressed, dressed, shaped, and even moved in the same way, occupied a basin area in the forest.

Their movements were so synchronized that any monster that spawned would be instantly eliminated by the three-person squad next to them.

The materials will be immediately stripped and stored, then another one will be refreshed, killed again, and the cycle will repeat.

Kirito could tell that this small basin area was probably the 'monster gathering spot' with the highest monster spawn rate in this forest area.