3rd November 2022.
That date was 3 days away from the global release date of the soon-to-be famous VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online.
Honestly speaking, I wasn't even sure if the black helmet-like thing I was holding back then was the recently new-found technology that allowed one to explore the artificial world known as virtual reality.
The NerveGear was arguably one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century. Ever since it got rapidly introduced and eventually sold around the world, I was deeply fascinated by how SAO would rule the whole gaming industry in times to come.
I never would have thought that I was so lucky to grab one of these copies right of the shelves.
Who knew some of these sacred game copies were shipped all the way from Japan to Singapore?
That was 3 days before the SAO release date.
3 days before the lives of the gamers who excitedly bought a copy without a second thought were changed completely.
Out of the ten thousand copies which had the game software named Sword Art Online that existed in the real world, only 200 copies were owned by Singaporean gamers.
At least, the first 200 players in Singapore who got to play the game first.
The same goes for the other countries as well.
Although I had heard of players that played SAO earlier on as beta testers, almost all of them were from Japan.
Nevertheless, I couldn't wait to see what SAO has in store for me. It would be an adventure that I would never ever forget.
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3 days later.
6th November 2022.
11.55pm.
SAO server start time : 12pm, Singapore time ( Japan is 1 hour ahead of Singapore, so the server start time in Japan would be 1pm).
With the NerveGear in front of my lap, I couldn't think of any other thing other than it. I had an opportunity to explore a world full of great fantasy; how could I not forgo it?
I laid down, put the helmet over my head and thought of how fun it would ever be in SAO. I am an avid gamer after all.
I never thought much after that.
The digital alarm clock beside me struck noon.
"Sword Art Online....Link Start!"
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What I saw after I created my SAO account was an entirely different sight.
Around me, avatars were appearing rapidly, their facial expressions probably the same as mine : pure awe.
I looked at my hands. I could move them like in real life. The game devs really are impressive! , I thought.
Partially holding in my bursting excitement, I did a scrolling down gesture with my right hand. The menu appeared smoothly right in front of me.
I pressed the "Status" button, and a bunch of stats materialized, along with a bunch of numbers. So this is how strong I am now, huh, I lightly chuckled.
6 hours later, I was exploring the streets of what was called the Town of Beginnings. From what I heard, I was on the 1st floor, the lowest floor of the floating castle known as Aincrad.
The streets were bustling with many players, although I kept in mind that some of them may be NPCs ( non-player characters).
The atmosphere here really felt like a pasar malam ( "night market" in Malay) .
I smiled to myself, thinking about how much time I would invest into this legend of a game.
It was at that moment that I never expected that a sudden flash of blue light covered my sight.
The next moment, I was standing in what seemed like a big, open plaza, except the plaza was continuously being filled with players who went through the same teleportation as I did.
I was really puzzled, not to mention the other players who seemed to be in the middle of what they were doing before being forcefully teleported.
I quickly brought up the menu to check the "Events" section. "No events going on......?" I muttered to myself.
I couldn't even comprehend the situation we were in. Was the forced teleportation some sign of a system malfunction?
Someone in the crowd complained," I can't log out!"
".....?" I navigated to the logout button, but when I pressed it, it did nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
No matter how much I press it, it simply did not send me back to the real world.
"The sky's changing!" One of the players near me shouted.
I looked up. The sky that seemed to twist itself to look like an entirely different thing became a faceless hooded figure painted in red.
All the players in the plaza just stared all the giant figure towering over them. Of course, I was quietly watching the looming figure as its shadow covered us as if it was nighttime.
In fact, I did not know yet that the nighttime I would get if we deliberately logged out ourselves would be literally eternal.
The hooded figure spread his arms as it wanted to embrace us all, and started his speech of despair.
"I truly welcome you to the grand opening of the REAL Sword Art Online."