STAR BOY ONLINE | PHAN

開始

PHIL'S P O V

PLEASE ENTER A USERNAME:

S t a r b o y

HELLO, Starboy. WELCOME TO SWORD ART ONLINE.

I sped through my setup controls. Japanese. Right handed. Avatar customization. Ooh, avatar customization. Purple hair? I look good with purple hair. Purple hair it is.

Okay, you can change the look of your avatar later, I thought, speeding through the rest of the menu. And then, everything was black.

I sat, staring into the darkness for a worrying amount of time before I realized that the reason that everything was black was because my eyes were closed. I blinked and was nearly blinded by sunlight. I took a deep breath. I was lying on my back in a field of grass. I sat up, grabbing a tuft of green between my fingers. It was cool and soft, just like real grass. I pulled, tugging it out of the ground. The minute it was uprooted it dissolved into a mess of pixels and disappeared. Definitely not real grass. I stood up and, noticing a bulk on my back, reached around to see what was weighing me down. My hand clenched around the heavy hilt of a sword. I lifted it from its place in the sling on my back and in one fluid motion swung it in front of me. There was a satisfying swoosh as it sliced through the air. I looked around. I could see people in the distance but no one anywhere near me. I crossed to a nearly bush and swung at it.

The minute my sword hit the leaves, the bush disintegrated into the same pixels the grass had when I pulled it up. Now, where the bush has been just moments before was a large gold coin. I reached down to pick it up and it disappeared at my touch. I waved my hand, revealing my player information in the air in front of me.

STARBOY:

Lv 1 Sword skill

HP: Full

Gold: 10

Interesting.

I slashed down another bush, then another, then another, each time the sword in my hand feeling lighter and more easily manageable.

I'm getting the hang of this, I thought, swinging my sword in another fluid motion to take out yet another bush when there was a yelp from the ground near my feet. I looked down and saw a dark-haired boy in a long black cloak lying on the ground.

"Oi!" he hissed as my blade barely missed his face, "Watch it!"

"Sorry!" I shrieked, jumping back, awkwardly clutching my sword.

"You nearly took my head off," he snapped, glaring at me as he stood, brushing himself off.

"Well, you were lying in the bushes," I pointed out defensively.

"It's comfier down there," he grinned at me. "What're you doing chopping at the greenery anyway?"

"There was gold inside," I mumbled, a little embarrassed. He only chuckled, a glint in his black eyes.

"You wanna get gold? I'll show you a better way," he smiled kindly, "Follow me." He seemed trustworthy enough, so I jogged along behind him as he trotted through the grass, further away from the town in the distance.

It always amazed me, how the NerveGear worked. It all felt so real: I could feel the breeze in my hair, the weight of the sword on my back; I could smell the scent of pine and grass and flowers that were blooming in the field. I could run, and it actually felt like running, but I didn't get tired. Likewise, I could have eaten if I was hungry and actually tasted the food. It would replenish my health and boost my HP but, no matter how much I ate, no amount of virtual food could fill my real stomach. The world inside the NerveGear always feels so real, but there's always those small details serving as a constant reminder that it isn't. It's all just a game: the NerveGear stimulating and manipulating your brain in order to immerse you fully into the world of zeros and ones.

"Here!" the boy whispered, grabbing my hand, stopping me in my tracks. He pointed a finger at the field directly in front of us which was filled with large boar-like animals.

"What are those?" I asked, wide-eyed.

"There called ryukyus," the boy informed me, "They're pretty easy to take down, so it won't do any damage to your HP, but they get you items and you can level up your sword skills by fighting them." He shot me a smile, a glint in his eye. "Watch me."

DAN'S P O V

I couldn't help but smirk a little as the boy watched wide-eyed while I easily took down a couple of ryukyu bulls. I turned to him, trying my best to look encouraging. "Now you try," I said with a smile.

"Okay," he said, looking a little uneasy. He stepped up to the closest ryukyu, slowly unsheathing his sword. He looked nervous, but the moment the hilt was in his hand, he moved swiftly and fluidly, not like a beginner at all, easily taking down three bulls.

"Wow!" I said, grinning at him as he approached me again. "That was really good! Were you in the beta test?"

"No," he replied, shrugging it off "Beginners luck."

"No such thing," I said, raising my eyebrows.

"Well, I guess I just play a lot of video games," he blushed.

"You've got skills," I told him, giving his arm a reassuring nudge.

"Thanks," he smiled, "What about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know a lot about SAO for someone who spent the first ten minutes it was launched lounging in the grass," he pointed out. "You were a beta tester then?"

"Oh, uh, yeah I was," I said, scratching the back of my neck.

"Really?" his eyes grew wide, "So you've seen the upper floors?"

"Some of them," I admitted, trying to shrug it off.

"How high did you get? Did you get to 22? Is it really beautiful? What's the lake like?"

"Yeah, I—Hang on," I stared at him, confused, "How do you know what's on floor 22?"

"Oh, um," he bit his lip, staring at his feet, "Well, my dad's one of the game developers so I've heard a little bit about it. Just the design though. Nothing about the game play."

"Really?" I raised my eyebrows. This guy could come in handy. "I got to floor 37."

"37?" he asked, shocked, "No way! All on your own? That's really impressive"

"Yeah, I guess," I said, fiddling mindlessly with the hem of my cloak.

"That's probably farther than anyone else in the test, right?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at me. I didn't respond. "Well, either way, I think that's really cool." He gave my arm a friendly squeeze.

"Thanks, I—" I was interrupted by a bright flash of red light in the sky behind me, which turned the entire world a dark shade of amber.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing at the giant red star in the sky above the nearby village.

"I dunno," I admitted, squinting to get a better look. "That wasn't in the beta."

"C'mon," he said, taking off running toward the town, "Let's check it out!"

"Woah, wait up!" I called after him, sprinting to catch up to him. "Slow down! Hey!" I laughed. He slowed down long enough for me to catch up before grabbing my hand and pulling me along behind him. As we ran carefree hand-in-hand toward the village, little did we know that we were running straight toward the beginning of the end of our lives.