"Then... what's the other possibility?"
"That it's part of the system itself. Something independent of the NPCs, like more fundamental logic, some kind of AI connected to the system. Hmm... maybe it's both?"
Kiriko was speculating.
"Hmm..." Asuna tilted her head.
She wore an expression that said, "I don't really understand, but it sounds impressive."
"Let's help Yui level up first." Asuna decided to do something they could actually do for now.
"Yeah." Kiriko nodded. "Yui is too vulnerable right now. Once she levels up, there'll at least be a lot less danger..."
And so it was decided.
Then the scene shifted to the Starting Village.
A place where hardly any players still lingered.
A bedraggled man stumbled out of the beginner dungeon.
Mr. Miyazaki, clad in beginner gear, opened his friends list and tried adding Leafa's ID, only to find that there was no response from the other side.
"Leafa—can't be contacted?" Then Mr. Miyazaki ran into a troublesome problem.
He couldn't add Leafa as a friend, nor could he contact her through mail.
Yet when Mr. Miyazaki searched for her, he could still find her.
As long as her ID hadn't turned gray, that meant she was still online.
"I remember it working before, but... why can't I contact her?"
Mr. Miyazaki was troubled.
Without Leafa's help, there were many things he simply had no way of getting started on.
Leafa had not been born in the beginner village like Mr. Miyazaki.
Because Leafa's character was data that had already existed.
So Leafa's character would not begin from the "spawn point."
Waiting here was pointless.
"Let's first see how far everyone's progress has gotten."
Checking everyone's progress was actually quite simple.
He only needed to open the map and look at the wilderness areas.
But then came the