The System's Forced Semi-Activation

Looking at the NERvGear virtual helmet in his hands, Seiya hung up the phone and let out a long sigh.

He was noncommittal about his friend Kazuto Kirigaya's enthusiastic sales pitch for "SAO."

A full-dive experience, swordsmanship that felt just like reality, powerful monsters and enemies that could further hone one's skills with a blade, and so on.

Those so-called "advantages" were why Kazuto Kirigaya had just been so fervently recommending the game to Seiya.

Kazuto really talked this game up like it was the best thing in heaven and on earth just to get me to play it.

Still, while it may be a good game, it's also genuinely dangerous. After all, this Death Game really does cost people their lives!

The reason Seiya said this was naturally because he was not a native of this world, but a Transmigrator.

Thus, he knew quite well what would happen next.

On the day of SAO's official launch, a mad researcher obsessed with his dream would trap all 9,500 players inside the game, turning SAO into a true Death Game.

As a Transmigrator familiar with the plot, Seiya could originally have avoided such danger.

After all, although he had not obtained world-destroying supernatural powers like those other legendary Transmigrators after coming to this world,

in this modern society, with his current record and grades, becoming part of the social elite after graduation was practically a certainty.

Even if he took a step back and decided he did not want to work, he could simply inherit his family's dojo and make a living without any problem.

In fact, that had originally been Seiya's plan. He had even intended to stop it together with his friend Kazuto Kirigaya.

After all, knowing full well that something was life-threatening yet jumping headfirst into it anyway—what the hell was that if not idiocy?

However, just as Seiya was preparing to alter the plot, the ever-welcome System suddenly appeared.

At first, the System's arrival had delighted Seiya beyond measure. He had thought that his already charmed life was about to rise to another level.

But before long, he was informed that his System was still only semi-activated. The reason it had suddenly appeared this time was to warn Seiya not to mess around recklessly.

According to the System, Seiya could alter the course of events, but it did not recommend directly shaking the foundations of this world.

Simply put, the world of Sword Art Online had originally unfolded around SAO.

If Lord Kirito did not enter SAO, then the foundation of this world would be shaken. Such a fundamental disruption could even cause this world to collapse.

It was like a Yu-Gi-Oh! world where cards never appeared, or where there were not even any card game players. The very meaning of that world's existence would be shaken, perhaps even destroyed!

After all, if the thing serving as the world's origin did not exist, then the world itself would no longer be that world.

And if the world itself collapsed, then Seiya, as someone who had transmigrated into it, naturally would not escape unscathed either.

After hearing the System's warning, Seiya obediently chose to take its advice and abandoned his original suicidal plan.

The reasoning was simple. Letting Lord Kirito enter the Death Game was a little dangerous, but at least there was still a way to survive. And as the Child of the World, his chances of survival were quite high.

But if Seiya stopped it from happening, he would be shaking the world's origin. When that time came, everyone would be dead.

Of course, as long as Lord Kirito entered the game, the world's origin would not be shaken. Even if Seiya himself did not take any risks, it probably would not matter much.

However, the second piece of information the System gave him explained that if he wanted to fully activate it, he had to play this Death Game alongside Lord Kirito and complete the prerequisite mission for the System's activation.

This System mission was not mandatory. Seiya had the right to refuse.

Whether he accepted the mission and fully unlocked the System's functions, or refused and continued being an outstanding ordinary person in this world, was up to Seiya himself.

Seiya had actually hesitated over this choice for quite some time before finally reaching an answer.

His hesitation was only natural. SAO was a genuine Death Game. Ten thousand people entered it, yet in the end, several thousand remained in the game forever.

He was not a chosen son of heaven like Lord Kirito. Worrying about his own safety was only human nature.

But after hesitating for several days, Seiya ultimately decided to take a gamble.

After all, he was a Transmigrator now. If he still lived like a dried-up salted fish, would he not drag down the average standard of all Transmigrators?

Besides, SAO was a full-dive game. With his current real-world kendo skills, he would at least count as an advanced player in the game.

And given his relationship with Lord Kirito, even if he did not have the destiny of a protagonist, he would at least have the cockroach-like fate of a supporting member of the protagonist's group. How could he be so easily killed off?

After carefully analyzing it all, Seiya felt that this had real potential, so he ultimately decided to go through with it.

After all, while he might become part of the social elite after graduation, putting it bluntly, he would still just be a high-ranking corporate slave.

Now that he had an opportunity to dominate in the real world, and the risks were still within a controllable range, Seiya truly had no reason to refuse.

After buying the NERvGear terminal helmet, Seiya took the train home. Yet when he walked up to the entrance of his house, he found someone standing outside his dojo.

The figure waiting before the dojo was a cute girl with shoulder-length black hair, dressed in a student sailor uniform.

Seeing her rise onto her tiptoes as though she were trying to peer inside, Seiya, who had already walked up beside her, gave a few dry coughs to make his presence known.

"Cough, cough. I don't remember Nao being the kind of girl who peeks into other people's homes.

Right now, you're making me think of those perverted creeps people always talk about on television... Hmm, a female creep, I mean."

Apparently not expecting Seiya to suddenly appear beside her and catch her behaving so improperly, Nao Kirigaya panicked while standing on tiptoe and nearly stumbled to the ground.

Fortunately, Seiya was quick to react. Just as the girl was about to fall, he hurriedly reached out and caught her, sparing her perky backside from making intimate contact with the ground.

"Brother Seiya, why did you suddenly come back? About what just happened... No, listen to my explanation, I'm not some kind of female creep.

I knocked for a long time outside, but there was no response. When I called, the line was busy too.

Mom made some little cakes, so I wanted to bring some over for you to try, so I just..."

Hearing Seiya call her a female creep, Nao Kirigaya was clearly flustered. She repeatedly waved her hands in front of herself and hurriedly explained with a nervous expression.