Chapter 86: Virtual World Seed Acquired, New Profession Feature Unlocked?

"Does the temple have auto-repair functions?"

Having unleashed the explosive spell, Shirakawa honestly couldn't stop it now. He could only keep feeding it mana to maintain it...

Looking at the now-erased Taurus King—in its place stood Kayaba Akihiko, a short-haired ordinary-looking man in a white lab coat—your typical researcher.

As the developer of the SAO game—

Whether or not the temple could be repaired was something Shirakawa genuinely needed to ask.

"No, it can't."

Of course he understood Shirakawa's implication. Kayaba looked up at the still-charging spell overflowing with violent energy.

The massive energy was still pouring in.

With no time for lengthy explanations, he immediately used his GM privileges to teleport Shirakawa straight to the rooftop of Aincrad Tower.

And the moment the mana supply was cut off—

The already-charged [Explosion] spell detonated instantly. The powerful shockwave slammed shut the slowly closing stone doors.

The sheer force of the blast made the ground across the temple's outer area tremble violently—

It gave many players the illusion that Aincrad itself was about to collapse. Even though only a portion of Shirakawa's mana powered the explosion—

The damage was enough to completely shatter the heavy stone doors.

Once she confirmed no chain reaction had occurred, Mito stepped forward, only to be met by a broken scene—like the game's code had glitched, a gaping black void now took its place.

The ringing in her ears from the explosion still hadn't faded.

She looked toward the distance, but Shirakawa was nowhere in sight. Surely he hadn't...

Cast the spell and gotten caught in it himself?

Mito tried looking around for him but found nothing. There was only one explanation left: he had already left the temple.

"So..."

"Was he really just a player in SAO?"

That thought lingered in her heart. If he wasn't a normal player... then—having that kind of power—she didn't dare imagine further.

And sure enough, her guess was correct. Escaping had been simple. With explosive bursts of movement speed, he had easily exited the temple before detonation.

Now, Shirakawa stood at the summit of Aincrad Tower.

He surveyed the open view before him, the entire SAO world visible from this height.

A cool breeze occasionally swept by.

Kayaba wasn't looking at the view but instead at Shirakawa's calm, emotionless face—his expression full of disbelief.

"You're... an outsider."

"And those magic spells—you created them?"

"More or less."

Shirakawa didn't deny it. If he hadn't used [Explosion], meeting Kayaba would've been much more difficult.

Even speedrunning to floor 100 would still take some time. And once cleared, Asuna wouldn't get the chance to train. Shirakawa turned his gaze to the ordinary-looking man before him.

There was no doubt the man who had created the world of SAO was extremely capable.

"Magic... is real?"

Using GM authority, Kayaba had already been alerted when the first-floor boss Illfang had been defeated. The system had flagged the unusual occurrence.

That's when Kayaba's attention was first piqued.

Especially after witnessing multiple uses of magic—he became certain that the outsider who had invaded the SAO world was Shirakawa. And he had grouped up with the players brazenly using spells.

Yes.

In a world without magic, it was clear Shirakawa's goal was to draw out the creator of the game—him.

"Of course."

Shirakawa answered easily. Right now, he only had the god profession—if he wanted to get stronger, he'd still need to refine the chaos god's dimensional space.

Kayaba, as a pure researcher and idealist, wasn't interested in power games. He calmly asked:

"So, you came to the SAO world... to find me, Dr. Kayaba?"

"You want... my research?"

Kayaba thought for a moment. Besides the SAO virtual reality game as a final product, he couldn't think of anything else worth coveting.

Seeing Shirakawa didn't deny it, he could basically guess the intention.

To be honest—

He didn't understand. A person with that kind of magical power—a human? Why would they be interested in a game world? If he truly wanted to clear it—

It would've been effortless.

"I don't get it."

"You can think of it this way—SAO is useful to me. I want to turn this virtual game world... into a real one."

The concept of subspace was too abstract—

So Shirakawa didn't explain in detail. He got straight to the point: "I want the SAO game world. And the virtual world seed in your possession."

"In return—"

"I'll have a goddess send you to a real isekai world. One that matches your ideals—a real alternate world."

That was his offer.

As for transferring Kayaba's soul to another world, he'd have to ask the goddess Eris from the Konosuba world, who controlled reincarnation in Japan.

She should have the power to do it.

Shirakawa didn't press him, calmly waiting for Kayaba's answer. Though this world didn't match Kayaba's fantasy exactly—

The key point was that the other world wasn't a game. It was real. And that was something Kayaba would find irresistible. And sure enough—

"You're certain the other world isn't just a hypothesis?"

Though his tone was skeptical, a flicker of hope shone in Kayaba's eyes. The allure of a real isekai was immense.

The magic Shirakawa used—

The adventurer lifestyle he'd dreamed of as a child...

"I don't have time to waste lying to you. To be precise, I have connections with the goddess in charge of reincarnating Japanese souls."

"You can choose the world yourself."

"All right."

As soon as Shirakawa explained this much, Kayaba agreed. His decisiveness even caught Shirakawa slightly off guard.

He turned to the side and saw Kayaba, still in his white lab coat, gazing at the SAO world he had created.

"A game world is fake in the end..."

"Seeking reality in a fake world—now that I have the chance to cross into a real one, I already know my answer."

His tone sounded like relief. Then he looked at Shirakawa again: "You can now register an administrator account."

"All SAO permissions are yours, including access to real-world terminals."

"..."

Kayaba didn't seem to care that Shirakawa knew all this. His instincts told him the isekai offer was real—he even worried Shirakawa might back out.

Compared to a genuine otherworld, the SAO world he had built suddenly seemed dull.

He took out a piece of amber glowing with golden light. Streams of light pulsed inside. In a calm voice, he explained:

"This is the seed of a virtual world."

"May I ask—what exactly do you plan to do with it?"

"..."

Shirakawa didn't answer.

As he examined the virtual world seed in his hand, the familiar skill panel—Appeared again!

[Detected: Current Profession - God. A new feature can now be unlocked.]

[Activate it?]