A journey to another world starting from a sword

A journey to another world starting from a sword

Author: Grand Duke Nero

Introduction:

The newly ascended native god of Aincrad, Dante, is preparing to travel to the next world, and he now has three options before him.

Is to become a knight of the British Isles.

Or become an assassin in the Middle East.

Or maybe a warrior from ancient Greece.

Of course, it all started one night when a meteorite hit.

Worlds to be traveled through: Sword Art Online, Fate, Chikkotsu, High School...

Chapter 1: A Gift from Heaven

If you see a shooting star, you should immediately have the naive thought of making a wish.

On a suburban highway late at night, as the man leaned against his car and casually glanced up at the night sky, he did indeed see a flash of light appear briefly in the almost starless sky.

His entire body froze for a moment. He looked up at the sky, and only moved a second later, exhaling white breath as he exclaimed, "Oh, it's a shooting star."

In this day and age, let alone shooting stars, there are hardly any stars to be seen.

It is likely that only the brightest first-magnitude stars can be observed by people on this light-polluted Earth.

Having never seen the Milky Way in real life, he felt quite lucky at that moment.

The bright arc was exceptionally conspicuous in the black night sky, and then slowly moved from the right side of the field of vision to the middle at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At that moment, a famous piece of music was playing on the car's stereo. He watched quietly as the arc of the shooting star streaking across the dark night sky grew shorter and shorter until it became a dazzling point of light.

Strangely, as time passed, the point of light did not disappear; instead, it grew larger and larger in his eyes, as if it were heading straight for him.

In that instant, an image popped into his mind of a man and a woman running towards each other, calling out each other's names.

"Mitsuba!" "Taki!"

So this is a meteorite.

As the object, which appeared to be a meteorite, drew closer to him, he slightly curled the corners of his mouth into a disdainful smile, even though his eyes were squinting due to the light.

A scene from a fatalistic horror movie flashed through my mind inadvertently. The story begins with the protagonist seeing a prophecy of death for everyone, then taking action to save everyone, but then everyone dies one by one.

This story teaches us that sometimes you really can't run away. If death has taken a liking to you and it's destined for you to die, there's no point in running.

An airplane exploding in mid-air or a roller coaster crashing from the sky is far more dignified than being slowly scorched by an ultraviolet light machine or having your butt sucked into a drain at the bottom of a swimming pool until your internal organs are sucked out and you die. Of course, it's also... faster.

Especially with such a large "falling object from a height," it might hit you while you're running, but if you don't run, you might be fine.

How could such a big planet like Earth possibly fly to my location? That was his thought at that moment.

Then I looked at the dazzling light that filled my field of vision, right in front of me.

These were his last thoughts when he was hit by the "mysterious meteorite": Is it too late to run now?

-----------------

December 2022, 11.

"Brother, I'm coming in," the girl said after knocking softly on the door, then turned the doorknob.

This is a room with light brown as the main color. The midday sun shines through the half-drawn curtains, casting dappled shadows on the wooden floor.

The room was spacious and bright, with several open books and a work computer on the spotless table.

I remember when my brother moved in, he proudly said that this computer had very high performance. I was a little confused at the time: Isn't this for work? Why does it need to be powerful?

The sheets on a single bed in the corner were neatly made, and a refreshing scent of detergent wafted from it.

Because it was so tidy, the girl guessed that Ms. Sada had cleaned it. Of course, her brother always folded the blankets neatly, but perhaps Ms. Sada had hung them out to dry afterward.

She had always been grateful to Ms. Sada, who was a maid employed by the family and cooked very well. Although the family paid attention to the nutrition of the meals, Ms. Sada always managed to cook very well, as if she had cast a spell.

Every object in this room is perfectly placed, revealing the owner's respect for life and attention to detail.

But... there was no sign of the room's owner.

"Oh right, they said I'd be going on a business trip starting today." She glanced at the time on the glass screen on the wall and muttered to herself.

The girl walked over and placed the two letters she had taken from the doorway, addressed to her brother Koichiro, on his desk. Just then, a game box next to the mouse caught her attention.

"Ah... isn't this Sword Art Online?"

She had a deep impression of it because a friend had mentioned it before and even invited her to hang out.

Moreover, I saw it on a billboard in Shibuya before; today is the game's so-called launch day, right?

Knowing her friend Fukasumi's personality, she would definitely go play there immediately.

"My brother bought this too." She looked at the bookshelf next to her.

And then there's NERvGear, even though my brother has never had anything to do with games since he was little.

She glanced back at the doorway, then turned and picked up the brand-new game console that didn't belong to her, holding it in front of her for a moment before hesitating.

"I hope you'll play with me too." Fukasumi's words from that time came back to mind.

In the end, she put the helmet-shaped game console on her head and said, "Brother, can I borrow it?"

Then relax your body and lean back on the high-backed, breathable mesh chair.

"let me see......"

What was the startup command again? I heard my brother mention it before.

Ah!

With her lips slightly moving, she read the instructions clearly and precisely in a voice as if she were reading aloud in class, so that the machine could receive the commands well.

"Link start!"

-----------------

[The branding begins]

Cardinal ownership transfer

Accepting His sacrifice

Mana fully charged

Initiate individual reinforcement

Gene optimization completed

Soul transformation complete

Reading host memories

......

Filter and lock low-level world

Lock anchor point

Coordinates are prioritized by host preference by default.

World rating: D

If you could travel through time one day, which world would you most want to go to?

This answer will change over time.

But I guess I really wanted to go somewhere relaxing and fun.

Although someone didn't have a choice.

Based on the sounds that constantly swirled in my ears during my journey, it seemed that the host's preferences were given the highest priority.

He was standing on a platform paved with brown stone bricks. In the distance was the azure sky and clouds that seemed within reach. So, he was not actually on the ground, but floating in the air.

As I walked to the edge of the platform to look around, I was stunned by the sight before me.

Although I had expectations, seeing this scenery still stirred my emotions.

This is a castle made of massive rocks and steel, floating in the boundless sky.

On the distant horizon, it seemed to blend into the sky.

Looking out from the platform, the solid, floating city appears soft and dreamlike under the sunlight.

Below the castle, light clouds gently swirl around, occasionally stirred by a breeze, revealing the diamond-shaped foundation at its base.

The upper part also has a bamboo shoot-shaped structure, and it is not a whole, but rather composed of layers of flat surfaces stacked together. At a glance, it should be as high as a hundred layers.

The name "floating city with a hundred floors" immediately brought a certain name to mind.

Of course, even when you actually see it, you can clearly identify this famous castle.

Its name is......

"Aincrad".

Chapter 2: The Beginning Town

Aincrad is a massive floating castle made of iron and stone, with 100 layers. The bottom layer has a diameter of about 10 kilometers, and the diameter of each layer gradually decreases. Each layer contains different environments such as cities, villages, forests, lakes, and caves.

There is only one staircase leading to each floor, and they are all located in the deepest part of the maze guarded by boss-level monsters. Only by defeating the BOSS guarding the floor can you go to the next floor.

This is a game world, the virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game Sword Art Online, which is the setting of Sword Art Online.

Suddenly, a "ding-ding-ding" notification sound rang in my ears, and I looked at the box in front of me to enter my game name.

Since he could only type in English, he thought for a moment, then raised his finger and typed "Arthur," and clicked confirm.

"The name has already been used."

"..."

Well, it's the name of a famous king after all. Even if there were only 1 players when the server first opened, someone would still choose this name.

His preferred name was already taken, so he thought for a few more minutes before typing "Dante" again.

The one who plays the divine melody.

From now on, he will act under the name Dante, after all... he is probably really dead.

This is a game world, after all. He didn't enter the game through a machine called "NERvGear," which is the one that runs the VRMMORPG "Sword Art Online."

As a groundbreaking full-dive gaming console, the NERvGear is a streamlined helmet that completely covers the head and face.

Its inner side contains countless signal components, and the helmet connects directly to the user's brain through the multiple electric fields generated by these components, and can cut off the signals transmitted from the spine to the brain.

Once connected, it truly becomes completely isolated from the real world.

Users can experience seeing and hearing without using their own eyes and ears, as the machine directly provides information to the visual and auditory cortex of the brain.

In addition to hearing and sight, NERvGear can also read all five senses: touch, taste, and smell.

The fact that he entered the game world directly without using a gaming helmet suggests that his method of travel was not entirely normal.

He raised his hand and stared at the ring-like mark on the third joint of his middle finger. In fact, it was indeed a ring, though it could be more than just a ring and could change shape at will.

Cardinal.

The "culprit" who brought him here.

A long time ago, when he was reading this book, he also thought that he wished he could be locked in SAO.

Now that we've actually made it through, I feel a sense of relief and gratitude for this miracle.

Before he could think any further, a blue-white light emanated from his body, as if to teleport him away, and he was instantly plunged into darkness.

When he heard a cacophony of voices around him, Dante opened his eyes.

This is a circular plaza surrounded by white marble, where players will appear on their first login in the game. It is the starting main town, "The Beginning Town".

Looking back, Dante gazed at the dark, domed palace not far from the plaza, the "Iron Palace," which was supposed to be the place where players who died in this game world would be resurrected.

However, this game is not that simple. At dusk today, it will be declared a death game by Kayaba Akihiko, the genius scientist who is the developer of the game SAO.