I blinked, a spectator of the scene in front of me. From the center of the swirling light, a shadow appeared, taking on shape and a whitish hue. Wisps of long black hair drifted in all directions, along with a snow-white dress and long, slender limbs. Eyes closed, hands crossed on her chest, the figure of a beautiful young girl appeared. She, like the embodiment of light, slowly sank to the ground.
The bright light disappeared as quickly as it began. The girl, who was floating in the air, slowly opened her eyes with a fluttering of eyelashes. Her eyes, deep as the night sky, slowly fixed on me.
I couldn’t move. Or speak. Or even blink.
The young girl looked at me, and her cherry-colored lips slowly opened. Words can’t describe the beauty of that angelic smile. I gathered my courage and said to her, “It’s me…Yui. Do you understand?”
Finishing, I glanced at myself. My attitude and appearance in this world are completely different from in that world.
However, such concerns were unnecessary. The girl’s - Yui’s - lips moved, and in a nostalgic voice so much like silver bells, said, “We meet again, Papa.”
Tears in her eyes, Yui stretched out her arms and flew into my bosom.
“Papa…Papa!” Yui called again and again, her thin arms tightly clasped around my neck, her face nestling mine. Hugging her little body tightly, I couldn’t keep the sobbing sounds from escaping my throat.
Yui, Asuna and I had lived together in the world of SAO for three short days, before she disappeared. Although it was only for a short time, it was an irreplaceable memory so deeply engraved in my mind that it could never be erased. During the long hard battle that was Aincrad, there was little happiness but for those few days, we were truly happy.
The feeling of sweet nostalgia wrapped around me as I stood there tightly holding Yui. Miracles were taking place in front of me. So, Asuna, we’ll definitely meet again. We’ll definitely return once more to those blissful days. This was the first time, since returning to the real world, that’d I’d felt such conviction.
I looked around the forest, found a convenient stump that had recently collapsed and sat down.
“So, just what on earth is going on?”
Resisting the urge to talk about Asuna, I asked of Yui, currently sitting on my lap.
With her face nestled against my chest, Yui looked up at me with an expression of supreme bliss.
“…?”
“What I mean is, this isn’t the SAO world, is it?”
Yui quickly gave a description of what had happened since I last saw her. She was about to be deleted but instead was compressed and stored as part of the environmental data. After beating the game, the floating city Aincrad disappeared. Afterwards, I’d come to this new world of ALfheim, though I didn’t know how my data had ended up here. However, the fact that Asuna still hadn’t woken wasn’t easy to put into words.
“Please, wait a moment.”
Yui closed her eyes, as if straining to hear a far-away voice.
“This is-“
Yui eyes snapped open, looking at me.
“It seems this world is based on a copy of the «Sword Art Online» server.”
“Copy?”
“Yes. The framework and graphic format are produced by the same core program group. I was able to reproduce this form. That is enough to verify this. However, the cardinal system is an older version and the game components are completely different.
“That’s…”
I fell deep into thought.
ALfheim Online was released twelve months after the SAO incident. Arcas had gone bankrupt, and in the aftermath, RECTO purchased Argus’ technology assets and used them to develop a new VRMMO game. If you can take advantage of the game’s main engine and feedback processes, development costs would be significantly reduced. In that case, the accuracy of this world wouldn’t surprise me as much since the game is running on the same engine as SAO.
In other words, ALO is operating on a copy of the SAO system, which I can understand. But -
“But…why did my personal data appear here?”
“Papa, please let me look at your data.”
Yui closed her eyes again.
“There is no doubt. This is the character data Papa used in SAO. The two games utilize an almost identical format not only for the save data, but also for common skill proficiency, so they can be inherited. But because the data denoting hit points and mana points is in a different format, HP and MP are not transfered. Then getting to the items, they are all corrupt. As long as you keep them, it is possible the system’s error detection protocol will detect them. It would be better if you throw them away.”
“Is that so…then ok.”
I touched the item column and selected the garbled items en masse. There may have been items which contained memories, but this wasn’t the time for sentiment. In any case, I couldn’t even tell what they were, let alone use them.
So, with grim determination, I deleted all of the corrupted items. This left me with just the normal initial equipment.
“There shouldn’t be any problems with my skill levels, right?”
“From the system’s point of view, no. When compared to your playtime it’s a little unnatural, but unless a GM directly checks, there shouldn’t be any problem.”
“Is this so? Heh. I’ve gone from Beater to Cheater.”
Well, when it comes to character strength, the sky’s the limit. I must reach the top of Yggdrasil and rescue Asuna. Besides, I didn’t come to this game to enjoy myself, I’m not in the mood to play seriously.
Looking carefully at my status bar, I can tell this world doesn’t equate numbers and strength. SAO’s agility and strength parameters simply don’t exist here, not to mention HP and MP increases are small. Also, as weapon skills increase, the only thing that changes is the number of weapons you can equip, there is no change in attack power. And, of course, SAO’s signature Sword Skills, do not exist.
In other words, ALO focuses on the player’s natural athletic ability and judgment. In SAO, attacks by lower-leveled opponents won’t do too much to lower HP. But this doesn’t seem to be the case here.
The only unknown is «magic», which did not exist within SAO. Now, only «Illusion Magic» is registered in the Magic field, so perhaps it is the initial skill of the Spriggan race. I have never used magic nor have I ever been hit by it, so I don’t really understand it.
I closed the window, facing Yui who was still clinging to my chest with her eyes narrowed like a cat, and asked, “Now that you mention it, what is Yui supposed to be in this world?”
Despite the fact that I can touch her, Yui is not human. Abnormalities in the SAO maintenance procedures resulted in her birth. She is an artificial intelligence, in other words, an «AI».
As of now, 2025, many research institutions have published papers including one entitled «Artificial Intelligence - Approaching Infinite Wisdom». This paper stated that as long as «rational behavior» processes continue, eventually the boundary between simulation of wisdom and true wisdom will become blurred, resulting in the creation of advanced AI.
Yui may be such an existence, the first true AI. But that doesn’t matter to me, I love Yui like a daughter and she thinks of me as her father. That’s enough.
“Ah, there seems to be a pseudo-character program for user support in ALfheim Online. They are called «Navigation Pixies», I appear to be classified as such.”
Saying that, she made a strange face for an instant. After that, her body suddenly lit up and then disappeared.
“YUI!?”
I cried out in panic. Going to stand up, I noticed something attached to my knee.
It was about ten centimeters in height, with slender arms and legs. Wearing a pale pink mini-dress that looks like it is made out of flower petals, with two translucent wings stretching out from its back. It is, to put it simply, a pixie. With that cute face and long hair, although she looks slightly different, she is, without a doubt, Yui.
“This is the appearance of a «Pixie».”
Yui stood on my knee, and with her hands on her hips, started to flap her wings.
“Oh…”
I exclaimed as I poke Yui’s cheek with my finger.
“That tickles!”
Yui laughed, rising up into the air to escape my finger, accompanied by the sounds of flapping wings, before sitting on my shoulder.
“…Then, do you also have administrator privileges, like you did before?”
“I don’t…” Yui said in a voice filled with frustration.
“At the moment, all I can do is access reference and wide area map data. I can also confirm the status of players I come in contact with, but I can’t access the primary program database.”
“Ah, is that so… Actually…”
My expression changed, and I changed the topic, finally getting to the main issue.
“Asuna…it seems your mother is here.”
“Oh…Mama!?”
Yui jumped off of my shoulder, and hovered in front of my face.
“What do you mean?”
“……”
I was just about to explain about Sugou Nobuyuki, but I was still a bit hesitant. Yui had been driven to the brink of collapse by the negative emotions of humans in SAO. I did not want to let her be further contaminated by human malice.
“…After the closing of the SAO servers, Asuna did not return to the real world. I obtained information that in this world there was a person who looked like Asuna. It is possible that it might just be a coincidence, and some random character might have been created that looks like her. I might just be grasping at straws here.”
“Ah…how’ve things come to this… I’m sorry Daddy, normally I could just scan the player data, but without access to the system I can’t do it.”
“There’s no need to blame yourself. Anyway, I have an idea where she might be. Yggdrasil…she seems to be there. That place, you know it?”
“Ah, this I know. Eh, eh, it’s generally to the northeast, but quite a ways from here. If I were to convert it into real distance, it would be about fifty kilometers away.”
“Wow, that really is a long distance. That’s what, five times the diameter of Aincrad. Actually, why was I brought to this forest anyway?”
Yui lowered her head for a moment at my question.
“I think that your positional data was either damaged or confused with a nearby player, resulting in you ending up here. That’s just a guess, though.”
“If I’m going to fall anyway, couldn’t I at least have fallen closer to Yggdrasil. Mm, at any rate, I’ve heard you can fly here?”
I stood up, and twisted my head to look over my shoulder.
“Oh, look, there really are wings.”
From my back sprouted four long, greyish-blue, translucent wings. They are more like insect wings than anything else. But I don’t even know how to make them move.
“How do I fly?”
“There seems to be a secondary controller for flight. Please hold up your left hand, as if to grip something.”
I followed the directions of the small girl on my shoulder. Soon after, a joystick-like object appeared in my hand.
“Pull it toward you to rise, push it away from you to descend, left or right to turn, push the button to accelerate, and release the button to slow down.”
“Nn.”
I pulled the joystick toward myself. The wings on my back started to expand and before long began to glow. I pulled the joystick further toward myself.
“Oh.”
Suddenly, my body started to float. I rose slowly until about one meter off the ground before I let my hand return to a natural position. Next, I pressed the accelerate button. My body started to move forward.
Then, I tried to drop and turn; I got the hang of it pretty quickly. This was considerably easier than the flight VR games I had played before and its operation was quite simple.
“I think I more or less get it. Now, there’s something I’d like to know. What the’s closest town to here?”
“To the west there is a town called «Sylvain». That’s the closest. Ah.”
Yui suddenly looked up.
“What’s wrong?”
“Players are approaching. It seems like there is one person being chased by three others.”
“Ooh, a battle. Let’s go take a look.”
“Papa is as care-free as ever.”
As I talked to Yui, I opened the menu and equipped the sword that I received as my beginning weapon. Pulling it out, I swung it a few times.
“Wow, what a lousy sword. It’s too light too; well, I guess I’ll make do.”
I re-sheathe my sword and summon the flight controller again.
“Yui, I’ll leave the navigation to you.”
“Got it!”
Answering in her bell-like voice, Yui took off from my shoulder. Following her, I, too, took to the air.
Part 3
Finally, the flame magic cast by the Salamander caught Lyfa and hit her in the back.
“Whaaaa!!!!!”
She could not feel pain or heat of course, but the attack had a large impact which made her lose balance. Fortunately, while running away she did not forget to set up a series of «Wind Attribute» defensive spells, so her HP bar was still good, but Sylphid territory still remained far away.
At that point, Lyfa became aware that her flight was becoming slower. Damn, I’m reaching the flight limit! My wings will lose all strength in just a few more seconds, and I won’t be able to fly until they recharge.
“Ugh…”
Gritting her teeth, Lyfa performed a steep dive into the woods to escape. Since the enemy had a mage, even hiding with magic would be hard. But she had no interest in just giving up and getting killed.
Lyfa slipped into a gap in the canopy and passed through the tightly packed tree branches while nearing the surface. It was time. Flight speed slowed almost to a stop, soon she neared the ground. As she started to land, she turned her body to break, and after letting her feet touch the ground she jumped into a hole on the back of a gigantic tree. Then, holding her hands in the air, she prepared to launch a type of stealth magic.
Magic in ALO closely resembles a fantasy film, and can best be described as a «Spell» chant. In order for the system to identify the magic, the incantation needs to follow the correct rhythm and pronunciation. If the chant is interrupted part way through, it will fail to launch and the caster must start over.
Lyfa quickly finished incanting the spell. She had spent a lot of time to memorize and practice it, thereby reducing the time needed to recite it. As soon as she finished the spell, a light green atmosphere emerged from her feet and slowly began to cover her entire hiding place until it completely enveloped her body. This was a defensive spell which prevented the enemy from seeing you. However, it could be penetrated by an enemy possessing a high-level «Scan» ability or a penetration spell. Lyfa held her breath and curled up to make herself as small as possible.
Before too long, Lyfa heard the sound that is unique to Salamanders in flight. Landing in the open space beyond the tree, the clanking of armor rang through the clearing followed by shouting.
“That Sylph should be around here, go search!!”
“No, Sylphs specialize in stealth. Let’s use magic.”
After saying that, he continued his spell incantation. Lyfa almost swore but instinctively kept her mouth shut. After a few seconds, something approached noisily from behind.
Several small red lizards with red eyes climbed over the roots of the gigantic trees. This was the «Fire Attribute» penetration magic: Dozens of the lizards emerge around the caster and search in an expanding circle and emit flames when they find something, immediately showing the location of other players or monsters.
Go away, you must not come over here!
Of course, the lizard has no set pattern, it moves randomly once summoned. Lyfa desperately prayed that the lizards go elsewhere, but
it was in vain. One of the lizards touched the membrane surrounding Lyfa, it gave a high-pitched screech and flared into flames.
“We’ve got it, over here.”
Hearing the sound of metal armor gradually approaching, Lyfa jumped from the shadows and flipped to land on her feet. She pulled out her sword and gracefully got in a ready stance, three Salamanders aimed their lances at her.
“Let’s not be unreasonable now.”
The man on the right pulled up the visor on his helmet. While his excitement was concealed by the helmet, he couldn’t keep it out of his voice.
The man in the center, the leader, continued in a calm voice:
“I’m sorry, but this is our mission. If you hand over the money and items, then we’ll let you go.”
“Ah, why, kill her!! The enemy is a woman so I am very excited ah.”
The speaker was the man on the left, who also lifted his visor as he said this. He looked like he was intoxicated by the violence, his gaze stuck on her.
Speaking from a year of gaming experience, this kind of «woman hunter player» is the worst kind of scum. Unfortunately, there are more than a few of them. Revulsion made goose bumps race up Lyfa’s arms. If this type of player touches the body of another player except in battle, the system would instantly send a harassment report. This is acceptable because casualties are, in one way, one of the purposes of this game. If it is looked at another way, bloodshed is the freedom of players. Some players take to extremes and find it pleasurable to «hunt» the female players in a VRMMO.
In the normal operation of ALO such a thing can actually happen. Rumors come true, and it actually happen in game, and with the thought of this Lyfa shuddered.
Lyfa firmly set her feet, getting into her favorite two-handed sword stance. Putting power into her glance, she stared at the three Salamanders.