Once upon a time, Kaito, like other netizens, daily looked forward to the arrival of virtual reality games.
Unfortunately, what eventually developed was just a VR device connected to a computer.
Due to the high price, plus the games were few and not very smart, Kaito had never actually bought one.
Kaito also admired these game creators. As VR devices gradually improved, game content became increasingly rich, including full support motion sensing.
But...
When would immersive virtual reality games arrive was still unknown!
Now that he had a helmet that could connect to the SAO World, Kaito couldn't help but sigh a bit.
"Darling, do you like playing games too?"
"Mm."
Kaito nodded in reply to Irisviel.
"Too bad. The instructions say only one person can bind to one helmet."
Looking at the game helmet in Kaito's hand, and the other items in the helmet's packaging box, Irisviel, who also wanted to play along, was a bit disappointed.
Why did it have to be bound?
Couldn't one machine be shared?
Well, this also explained why Mika didn't lend the helmets to Shodai and the others. It wasn't that she didn't want to lend them; one helmet could only be used by one person. It had automatic identity scanning. If it wasn't the owner, you couldn't log in, etc., etc.
Now Mika had one, her daughter Ako had one. Who could the last one be for?
[Mika]: Oh right, there's also an introduction to the game and a story collection. Kaito, do you want to see it?
[Kaito]: An introduction to the game and a story collection... Alright, send it to me to have a look.
Kaito knew SAO very well. It mainly took place inside Aincrad.
But considering the original work might have some changes, he still needed to take a look first.
[Mika]: All done~ I've sent it to you.
[Kaito]: Okay.
Received an exclusive gift. After obtaining it, he got a thick book.
The cover of this book depicted a World Tree and [Aincrad] in the sky. The packaging was very exquisite.
Except...
The World Tree was a problem.
SAO didn't have a World Tree; it existed in another game, the Alfheim arc.
'Sure enough, the plot has been changed a bit.'
Putting aside the game introduction at the beginning, the originally planned combat system of SAO had also changed.
All players still had no classes, but there were now archers, sorcerers, etc., which didn't exist in early SAO.
That is, not bound to any class, no skill points. Everything depended on fighting with the weapon you liked, increasing proficiency, and then slowly unlocking some inherent skills. You could also learn from skill books dropped by monsters.
Those specializing as sorcerers relied most on skill books dropped by monsters.
Otherwise, you'd just be fighting with a wooden staff until you got skills to unlock your mana bar.
Leaving aside the combat system, Kaito flipped through several more pages and saw the general story background.
First, still needed to clear all 100 floors of [Aincrad].
Second, the story background also included the mention of Integrity Knights...
'Isn't this the Alicization arc!?'
Players would join in the mid-game and then fight enemies from another continent.
Like a faction war.
Everyone would be born in a vast open world map. You could leisurely play here.
If you wanted to fight, you went up to [Aincrad] to challenge, raise your level, increase proficiency.
Every once in a while, the open world map would be randomly invaded by enemies, and players would have to rush back to support and drive them out.
The story background was roughly like this. As for more details, he couldn't be bothered to explain.
Kaito flipped through a few more pages. When he saw the [Administrator] of the Axiom Church, the corners of his mouth curled up involuntarily.
'Mm, although the plot has deviated a lot, it's not a big problem.'
Closing the book, Kaito returned it to Mika.
With his memory, he had already memorized everything, whether it was the gameplay or the story background.
He was mainly curious whether Kayaba Akihiko would still, according to the original plot, trap the players inside the game world?
Of course, Kaito's helmet wouldn't be locked; he could log off anytime.
The main thing was that this story collection also revealed some news later on.
For example, the developer of the next-generation game, Kayaba Akihiko, had been investigated 3 years ago.
The reason was a huge loophole discovered in the game. A beta tester suddenly couldn't log off voluntarily, and forcing a logout would burn out their brain, etc., similar to the original work.
Later, Kayaba Akihiko claimed it was his serious mistake. To atone, he devoted himself to continuing making the game, while also developing more equipment for medical use.
During these 3 years.
First, he improved the SAO game, making it richer and more realistic.
Additionally, he added new elements, new main storylines, etc., to give players more experiences, and so that players who weren't good at combat could also have fun in the big world.
Regarding the helmet, due to his mistake, Kayaba Akihiko, after research, produced the NerveGear 2.0, and guaranteed there would be no problems, personally tested.
Thus, after the news, there were various promotional slogans reassuring everyone to use it safely. Now it was frantically selling worldwide!
But...
Kaito increasingly felt that Kayaba Akihiko wasn't that simple.
Since he was caught before, why not play an even bigger game?
Anyway, he was destined to die in the real world; he wanted to travel to the game world, understand?
As for the outside world, he didn't care if it was catastrophic; he would be carefree in the game world.
As for this contradictory person, Kayaba Akihiko, Kaito wouldn't think too much about him.
'Whatever, I'll find out tomorrow when the game opens.'
'Speaking of which, since it was a new SAO delayed by 3 years before being released again.'
'Would the protagonist inside also have grown up by 3 years?'
'For example, an 18-year-old Asuna?'
Compared to a 15-year-old Asuna, Kaito preferred an 18-year-old one.
If that was the case, Kaito was really looking forward to it.