Chapter 233

“Woo!”

The Rainbow Butterfly flew around Rozen while letting out a worried cry, but Rozen had no time to mind it at the moment.

Suddenly, there was a window popped up in front of Rozen.

It was a message from his in-game friend.

“Kazuto?”

Rozen immediately opened the message.

“Can you log out?”

This short message told Rozen how anxious Kirito was at that moment.

This also told Rozen something.

“Is this happening to everyone?”

The sense of foreboding in Rozen’s heart was getting stronger and stronger.

Driven by such foreboding, Rozen quickly closed the message window and arrived at a certain conclusion.

“Is this a bug?”

Only game master could answer this as there was no announcement whatsoever regarding this problem.

Rozen could only say one thing for sure.

“If this really is a bug, then it’ll be troublesome.”

Various possibilities popped up in Rozen’s mind.

The gaming corporation Argus was known for its emphasis on player rights.

Therefore, even if Sword Art Online was the first VRMMO that they created, their reputation was known across nations, it could be seen by how easily they sold out the first batch of SAO software, which was 10,000 copies.

However, if a problem like a log out button is missing, thus players couldn’t log out on the first day of the game, and ultimately couldn’t return to the real world, Argus might be sued for imprisoning 10.000 citizens, and they might file bankrupt as a result.

Furthermore, the same types of SAO might be banned in the future due to the compromise of the player’s safety

If it turned out that big, it would cause him some trouble.

“I planned to use this game to expand my arsenal further, I can’t let this game getting shut in the first day!”

Rozen continued to think of worse and worse possibility, when suddenly….

“Dang dang dang dang!”

Rozen suddenly heard a loud bell echoed across Aincrad.

“What now?”

Rozen was slightly shocked. His body was suddenly enveloped in blue light.

“Zheng!”

Seeing this situation, Rozen immediately said.

“Is this forced teleport?”

That was the same mechanism as the Teleport Gate mentioned earlier.

Of course, Rozen has used this mechanism before during the closed beta, he used the Teleport Gate in the town, he even bought several Teleport Crystal which could be used when he was outside safe zones.

However, this time was different, Rozen didn’t wish to teleport anywhere, nor did he get any Teleport Crystal on him.

After the blue light disappeared, he suddenly found himself in the central plaza of Town of Beginnings, that he was in during a few hours ago.

“Zheng!”

“Zheng!”

Just like Rozen, many more players were teleported to the central plaza, they all emerged out of blue light as well.

“This… is this Town of Beginnings?”

“How am I suddenly here?”

“Is this the teleport mentioned on the official website?”

“What is going on?”

Everyone made a fuss about the current circumstances, and as central plaza was more crowded with more players, anxiety filled the atmosphere and turned into panic.

“Gooo!”

The Rainbow Butterfly that was teleported along with Rozen was shocked by the player’s behavior and hid itself in Rozen’s arms.

Under normal circumstances, players would’ve noticed this Rainbow Butterfly and swarmed them, but they were in no position to be that carefree at the moment.

“Why can’t I log out!?”

“Game Master, explain yourself!”

“What a trash game!!”

The players yelled to voice their frustration, scaring the Rainbow Butterfly even more.

“Up there…!”

Looking at something suspicious above the central plaza, Rozen immediately yelled out.

Not only Rozen, the rest of the players have also seen the same thing.

Red polygons appeared above the central plaza, and it gradually filled the sky.

Suddenly blood dripped between the gap between the polygon, but before reaching the ground, it somehow merged together and formed a nearly 20 meters dark red cloak.

That was right.

Cloak.

There was nobody inside the cloak.

“Welcome to my world.”

The red cloak introduced itself with an indifferent voice.

“My name is Kayaba Akihiko. I believe everyone here should be familiar with myself, right?”

As soon as he said that, everyone in the central plaza was surprised.

“Kayaba Akihiko?”

Rozen was also a little surprised because Rozen knew that name.

To be more precise, every player must’ve known that name.

Because…

“I am the Development Director of Sword Art Online and the designer of NerveGear.”

“I’m currently speaking to all of you through this avatar.”

The man named Kayaba Akihiko introduced himself in a faint voice, and everyone was speechless.

“Is that really Kayaba Akihiko?”

Rozen stared straight at the red cloak floating in the sky.

Breaking the cold silence, Kayaba Akihiko then said.

“I believe all of you should’ve noticed that the logout button in the main menu is missing, right?”

Then he added

“However, this is by no means a mistake, but a feature of true Sword Art Online.”

Kayaba Akihiko’s words shocked everyone.

Then, as if trying to confuse everyone even more, he said.

“To put it simply, from today onwards, everyone will become a permanent resident of this world and cannot leave from here.”

Kayaba Akihiko delivered the finishing blow.

“You’ll be stuck here forever unless you clear all 100 floors in Aincrad.”