“Whooosh!”
The tingling sensation of wind passing through one’s skin, Rozen was familiar with that.
It was not an actual wind, it was merely the stimulus that NerveGear replicated into his brain.
However, these stimulus told Rozen that he has logged in to Sword Art Online
Or more familiar as SAO.
“I am finally back!”
Rozen said the moment he opened his eyes.
What appeared before Rozen’s eyes was a very magnificent white town.
At that time, Rozen was standing in the middle of this white town.
It was paved by vast slate floors surrounded by trees on the sidewalk, the streets had this medieval vibe, and in the distance ahead, there was a huge palace with a black light.
Rozen, who participated in the beta test, naturally knew that it was a place called Black Iron Palace.
In this world, once a player died, they will be resurrected in that palace and resumed their venture in the world.
The square where Rozen stood was where every player’s starting point, Town of Beginnings.
At this time…
“Zheng!”
“Zheng!”
As blueish light flashes, a figure appeared underneath it, that process kept happening in succession.
They were players who have just logged in, just like Rozen, they all looked eye-catching, and they were wearing various kinds of equipment, even their hair color was completely different, the only thing they had in common was their avatar looked different from their real self. No one was ugly. Males were handsome, womens were gorgeous.
Of course, that was because the players modified their respective avatars to their liking, it was by no means their actual appearance.
That applied even to Rozen himself. He saw the avatars around them with various appearances, savvy military guy, mixed-race girl, etc., and they all wore clothes that were easy to move in.
Rozen heard those player’s impressions when they first logged in to the game.
“Is this SAO?”
“Then is this the first floor of the floating castle (Aincrad) mentioned in the advertisement?”
“This is really something else!”
Those players cheered and expressed their excitement, liven up the square.
Of course, there were some players who didn’t shout in excitement, instead they quickly scattered throughout the city.
Most likely they were among the one thousand people who participated in closed beta along with Rozen, they knew the most efficient course of action they had to take next, they knew where exactly to go, they knew which quest they should take, they knew the ins and outs of this game as they already went through this.
To be honest, Rozen also had somewhere to go.
However, he had to rendezvous with Kazuto first.
“Pssshhhh!”
Rozen planted his feet deep on the ground and ran at unbelievable speed.
He will never be that fast in the real world.
Because his magic circuit was too strong yet his life force energy couldn’t keep up, his body was as weak as a bean sprout in the real world.
Even if he used “body hardening” on himself to boost his physical ability, he still won’t be ablt to run as fast as he currently did.
“This is why I prefer virtual bodies!”
Rozen hummed while running at high speed.
Since it was not his real body, Rozen ran across town without any worries. This was one of the charms this world offered and one of the reasons he was hooked on this game.
As he ran around Town of Beginnings, which was surrounded by shops and all kinds of buildings, he heard people offering their goods, children’s voices playing with each other, and even the sound of iron being tempered, giving the whole town the classic RPG atmosphere.
He also saw people dressed in medieval clothes and equipment who were conversing and laughing with each other, it seemed quite lively.
However, be it the store’s clerk, the children, and the people in medieval clothes that Rozen just passed by were just the NPC in this world.
They seem looked real and interactive, but actually they had fixed behavior and lines. Unless they were involved in some sort of special circumstances or quest, their response and action will always be the same.
Rozen ignored the bustling street and rushed into an alley.
But suddenly, he stopped.
Because someone was already waiting for him there.
“What took you so long?” A teenager wearing an almost similar looking clothes to Rozen said.
The teenager and Rozen had a different approach on creating their avatars, Rozen got a macho looking avatar while the teenager in front of him had a cool-looking avatar who was leaning against the wall.
“So you’re making a handsome-type, huh?”
Rozen said bluntly.
“Cough…!”
The teenager in front of him was stunned.
He was none other than Kazuto, that was why Rozen was that straightforward.
Rozen and Kazuto stared at each other.
Rozen could see a green color cursor could be seen above Kazuto’s avatar.
There were several types of color cursor
Green was the player’s indicator, yellow was NPC’s indicator, red was a monster’s indicator, and orange indicated players with criminal infractions, such as PK.
Now, Rozen saw Kazuto’s color cursor was green which meant he was a normal player who hasn’t committed any crime, in addition he also saw a green bar.
That was the hit point bar.
A color cursor and hit point bar were the two things that all players could see.
To check more information, such as name, level, location, etc., players must either add each other as friends or form a party.
Rozen came here to rendezvous with Kazuto.
“Okay, let’s form a party and defeat a bunch of monsters together.”
Rozen said, he then took a step back, pulling his index finger and middle finger downwards together.
That was hos players accessed the main menu.
After doing so, a shining purple rectangle window appeared along with a bell-like sound.