Chapter 38: Death Game (Part 2)

"Finally, let me show you proof that this world is now your only reality. There is a gift I have prepared for you in your inventory. Please take a look."

Asuna followed his instructions, her fingers almost automatically swiping downwards. The surrounding players also made the same gesture as Asuna, and a series of electronic chime effects echoed in the plaza.

After tapping the inventory label on the main menu that appeared, Kayaba's gift was at the top of the displayed item list.

The item's name was—"Handheld Mirror."

Listening to Asuna mutter about why she was being sent such a thing, she clicked on the name, and from the window that appeared, she selected the materialize button. Along with a glowing sound effect, a small, square mirror immediately appeared.

The mirror reflected a distinct but very young face.

In the next moment, all players, including Asuna, were successively flashed with blue light. The light lasted only two or three seconds, but when the vision cleared again, what they saw were unfamiliar people.

Those handsome and delicate players disappeared, and many players looked surprised and incredulous. Their companions looked at each other, and almost the entire square echoed with one voice:

"Who are you?"

Then they suddenly realized, hurriedly touching their faces and looking at themselves in the mirror.

This was their real appearance in the real world.

Asuna's hairstyle had changed slightly, and her face had become younger and more childish, but it was still mostly the same.

Naoki Kirigaya casually looked around and noticed several players who had changed from female to male. There were definitely quite a few such players, and he could understand their feelings. After all, he also liked to play female characters when playing games.

It's not that male characters aren't fun, but female characters are more cost-effective.

But now, the players were all wailing.

After all, everyone has more or less some hidden reasons to adjust their appearance. Everyone will slightly improve their appearance, which isn't too much, right?

But now, everyone is showing their true faces.

Just before Naoki Kirigaya could react, a player next to him said in surprise, "Why haven't you changed at all?"

It was a plain-looking middle-aged fat man, his body obviously overweight, with a big belly, giving a comical feeling.

Naoki Kirigaya shrugged and said, "This is what I look like in real life."

The fat man fell silent. Not only him, but the male players who heard this also fell silent.

For a moment, it was terribly silent around Naoki Kirigaya.

What should you do if there is a very handsome person of the same gender nearby?

Although handsome guys are very popular with the opposite sex, they are also often ostracized by the same sex.

And when a person's appearance is at the top among the same sex, most people, although they can't bring themselves to ostracize him, will subconsciously stay away from him.

After all, no one wants to admit that they are inferior to the other person.

Once they are inferior to the other person, if it is within an acceptable range, they will try to make things difficult for the other person.

The methods of making things difficult don't need to be too deliberate. It could be not speaking when meeting, or it could be heckling at a critical moment, watching the other person make a fool of themselves. As the number of people increases, this situation will intensify, eventually leading to school bullying.

Japan is like this. The targets of school bullying are usually divided into three categories: those who are handsome but not good at talking, those who have good grades but are not good at talking, and those who are handsome, have good grades, but are not good at talking.

In short, school bullying usually targets those who are not good at talking, those who lack confidence.

Kayaba Akihiko's words continued, without any pause.

"You must be wondering why. Why—why would Kayaba Akihiko, the developer of SAO and NerveGear, do this? Is this a large-scale terrorist act? Or a kidnapping for ransom?"

Kayaba, whose tone was completely devoid of emotion earlier, now had some emotion in his voice. Even Naoki Kirigaya had to admit that Kayaba Akihiko was an extremely charismatic person.

Naoki Kirigaya had learned about this young genius.

Kayaba Akihiko is known to the world as a quantum physicist and genius game designer, the designer of the NERvGear foundation and the SAO game. Created the seed of the world: The Seed.

A plain-looking man with the ability to change the era.

It's just a pity that he chose this path.

"These are not my goals. In fact, I no longer have any goals or reasons. Why? Because for me, this situation is the ultimate goal. To create this world and watch it, that is why I invented NerveGear and created SAO. And now, all my goals have been achieved."

After a short period of time, Kayaba's cold voice began to echo in the hall.

"…The official operation game instructions for 'Sword Art Online' are now complete. Players—good luck to you all."

The last sentence left some echoes and then disappeared.

The huge scarlet cloak rose silently, starting from the tip of the hood, gradually merging with the system message covering the entire sky as if melting.

Its shoulders, chest, and limbs slowly sank into the blood-red water, leaving only a ripple spreading out. Then, the message covering the entire sky disappeared suddenly, just as it had appeared.

The sound of the wind blowing over the square and the BGM of the town streets played by the NPC orchestra gradually approached from afar, gently touching everyone's hearing.

The game returned to its original state. The only change was that some of the game's rules had changed.

The group of ten thousand players finally reacted as they should.

In short, there were overwhelming loud noises from many places, shaking the entire square.

The moment the surrounding red barrier disappeared, Naoki Kirigaya almost instinctively grabbed Asuna and ran.

Asuna was pulled away by the boy before she could react, and she sent a private message to Kirito.

Roa: "Let's go, grind monsters. Do you want Suguha to watch your corpse and cry? We'll grind separately, it's more efficient that way. PM me if anything comes up."

Kazuto Kirigaya: "."

Kazuto Kirigaya hadn't reacted yet when he saw this message. Suddenly, his pupils contracted, he swallowed, grabbed Mito, and said urgently, "Let's go, grind monsters."

But when he turned his head, he saw a cute and delicate girl with short purple hair.

The girl was very pretty, her purple eyes like purple gems.

But the girl's height had changed from almost two meters to only about 1.65 meters, which made Kazuto Kirigaya a little unresponsive.

Feeling the warm touch on his hand, Kazuto Kirigaya swallowed subconsciously.

It's not his fault. He had never been in close contact with other girls except for holding his sister's hand since he was a child.

It's not his fault, it's all because of that shut-in older brother who took him to play games every day, turning him into an otaku.