I'm Kawahara Reki. I'm extremely grateful that you bought the fifth volume of this series. Including the other series, this would be my 10th work, «Sword Art Online 5, Phantom Bullet».
In Net-gaming, there are two rather popular forms of gaming genre other than MMORPGs. One of them is «Real-Time Strategy», and the other one is «First Person Shooter».
I like both genres, but if I want to talk about RTS, this column wouldn't be enough, so I'll have to cut it short (laughs).
And as the title implies, FPS is a game genre that normally allows the main character (=player) to wield a gun through a first-person view and play. It originated from America, so right now, no matter whether it's the number of games or the number of players, Americans form the majority. But when fighting online in a player vs. battle, there would be situations where people would feel like saying "Are you the revived version of Simo Hayha[1]?" Most likely, it's those kind of situations while I'm still rushing forward at full speed, I'll hear a bang from afar, and then there's bleeding from between my eyebrows and I died, or that in close ranged combat, I already got an assault rifle and am shooting recklessly, but the enemy is closing in on me, dodging left and right, and then using the knife to kill me easily (At this moment, I really feel like saying: "Are you the revived version of Simo Hayha!?"). However, people would just say that I'm a Greenhorn.
The PvP in MMOs would be affected greatly because of the level and equipment difference, but the FPS character's ability itself would rely on the player's own skill. One of the reasons why I created this «Phantom Bullet» is to present this «ability» in the «SAO» series.
However, the problem was that even though I like FPS, I don't understand anything about guns at all...this time, I used a lot of gun names and unique terms, but these were all hastily compiled knowledge at the last second. To the readers who are rather well-versed in this, you may feel that there are a lot of scenes where you'll go "How is this possible!", but I hope that everyone can be forgiving and treat it as "It's part of a game anyway."
To Miki-san, who is beginning to have more and more related tasks and yet still patiently waited for me to fine-tune my original script, abec-san, who was able to present the charm of two (laughs) female leads perfectly in the illustrations, and everyone who supported me even after I wrote that 'I'll be going crazy', please accept my headshot gratitude with your foreheads. I hope to meet you next time!
2010, June 10.
Kawahara Reki.
References
↑ Legendary sniper of Finland who racked up the most confirmed number of kills. 505 sniper kills, and well, you can read the rest here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4