The First Fear

It was purely by chance that Wang Yang appeared beneath Arthurslin's skirt, and he was wearing safety shorts at that. Still, Wang Yang couldn't help but glance a few times; it was only natural.

It was precisely these few glances that made Arthurslin sense something was amiss. She looked down and saw Wang Yang's lecherous gaze.

"..."

The corner of her mouth twitched. Arthurslin clenched her fist tightly and, under Wang Yang's terrified gaze, expressionlessly raised her foot high before stomping down with all her might.

SMACK!

This stomp on Wang Yang's face was delivered with full force.

"Ah!" Wang Yang's vision went black, and a burning pain immediately shot through his nose, causing him to let out a pathetic, spineless scream.

If not for the tens of thousands of players who had just been teleported in starting to make noise, Wang Yang would likely have become the focus of everyone present. However, even though most people didn't notice Wang Yang, the players around him all cast looks of disdain his way.

Clearly, they had all self-righteously pieced together what happened, believing Wang Yang had taken advantage of her and then been stepped on. What they found most contemptible was that he was stepped on, and then he screamed so loudly.

If Wang Yang knew what they were thinking, he would surely fly into a rage and curse them for being able to talk the talk without walking the walk.

However, this was just a minor interlude. The voices of the teleported players grew louder, interspersed with curses like "GM, get out here!"

These were the players who had first discovered they couldn't log out. They had things to do in reality and couldn't log out, accumulating a lot of negative emotions over time. The moment they were teleported to the plaza, these emotions completely ignited.

They all thought the GM was summoning players to explain the situation and fix the logout option, unaware that in the following minutes, they would face not just disappointment, but despair!

Because it was within the safe zone, Arthurslin's stomp didn't actually harm Wang Yang. Otherwise, Wang Yang might have tragically become the first victim since the game's official launch.

That's right, he was the only one among the players who knew that the game had officially begun the moment everyone was teleported to the plaza. This meant that from this point on, dying when HP hit zero would be true death!

The HP recovery rate within the safe zone was fast, so Wang Yang's HP quickly returned to full in a short time, naturally dispelling his paralysis. Once he regained his mobility, he immediately stood up and sheepishly looked at the grim-faced Arthurslin, explaining with distress, "This was a random teleport, and I was paralyzed, unable to move at all."

To his surprise, Arthurslin turned her head away and ignored him, leaving him to awkwardly touch his nose, thinking his identity as a pervert was now cemented. After a habitual sigh, he began to pay attention to his surroundings. Just like in the anime he had seen, this was a plaza that could easily accommodate tens of thousands of people. In the center of the plaza stood a spire, and directly in front of the spire was a palace.

That was the Black Iron Palace, which was originally a respawn point. Now, perhaps a metal monument had been erected, and his game name occupied a small area on it. Perhaps one day, his name would be crossed out with two cruel lines.

"This truly is the world of Sword Art Online. Should I be excited or scared?" Wang Yang looked at the situation clearly and shook his head with a wry smile, even though he could still feel the fear of his heart pounding.

As Kayaba Akihiko had said, this was no longer just a game; it had become a real world!

Afterward, Wang Yang heard the curses of many players in the plaza and sneered inwardly, "You curse fiercely now, but you'll probably cry even more fiercely later."

He already knew what was about to happen and had prepared himself mentally. But he didn't consider how terrified he had been when he first learned this was Sword Art Online. Now he had the mood to mock others.

After a while, Arthurslin's anger subsided. She glanced around, listening to the increasingly harsh clamor, and frowned, muttering to herself, "This didn't happen during the beta test. What on earth is going on?"

Fortunately, Wang Yang had sharp ears. Amidst the noisy din, he heard Arthurslin's muttering, and his eyes lit up.

A beta tester. He hadn't expected Arthurslin to be a beta tester. This was truly heaven-sent.

Wang Yang was worried about knowing nothing about the game, but he didn't expect Arthurslin to be a beta tester. This way, he could get a lot of useful information from her.

For example, starting quests, monster abilities, and so on.

You have to know that there is no resurrection option now, so you can't treat wild monsters casually. A single mistake means death. Thinking of this, he quietly moved a few steps closer to Arthurslin and asked, "Arthurslin, did you participate in the beta test?"

Arthurslin was thinking about something and nodded subconsciously. Fortunately, she had calmed down now and didn't care about Wang Yang's small movements. She cared more about when she could log off.

"Huh, look up there!"

Suddenly, a voice drowned out all other sounds. The noisy square gradually quieted down, and everyone looked up.

It was a hundred meters high in the sky, the bottom of the second floor. The bottom was already dyed a bright red, and the light cast down through the red patterns, causing everything around to be plunged into red.

Under everyone's gaze, the pattern spread across the bottom of the second floor, covering it like a honeycomb in the blink of an eye.

At this moment, the players in the square saw the words "Announcement" written in large characters on the pattern and breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's great, it's an announcement!"

"I'm tired of waiting, let me log out quickly."

"I have plans to eat with someone."

The sounds of one after another were everywhere, but only the thousand beta testers knew the inside story and had an ominous premonition about everything that was happening.

Suddenly, a drop of thick, huge blood dripped from the center of the red pattern covering the entire bottom. However, the blood drop did not continue to drip halfway down. Instead, it kept changing in mid-air, finally transforming into a twenty-meter-tall giant wearing a cloak.

It might be a bit inaccurate to call it a person, because from below, one could see nothingness under the red brim of the hat, with no facial features symbolizing a person, and the hem of the huge cloak was also pitch black.

Seeing the GM appear in this form, the thousand people who had participated in the beta test felt their ominous premonition deepen.

"It's here." Wang Yang looked up at Kayaba Akihiko's avatar, his face sinking. His heartbeat was faster than ever.

"What's here?" Arthurslin looked at him in confusion.

Wang Yang just shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Just watch."

"Strange person." Arthurslin muttered, her gaze returning to the red giant.

At this moment, the red giant suddenly moved. The sleeves on both sides were slowly raised and opened, revealing a pair of white gloves. From the cuffs, it was clear that the gloves and sleeves were separate, and no ** could be seen.

Combined with the blood-red world, this increasingly bizarre phenomenon began to make some people feel fear for the first time.

Before this, everyone thought it was just a game. With this mindset, they didn't pay too much attention to whatever happened.

However, a few timid players began to feel fear, and these players were the first small group to collapse.

"Players, welcome to my world!" A deep and clear voice came from under the hat brim.

The players in the plaza were speechless, the entire plaza falling into dead silence. At this moment, the cloaked giant lowered his arms and continued, "I am Kayaba Akihiko. I am currently the only one who can control this world. I believe all players have noticed the logout option disappearing from the menu. This is not a game malfunction. I repeat, this is not a game malfunction, but the original version of Sword Art Online! Furthermore, you cannot log out by external means!"

"From now on, players will be unable to log out until they reach the top of the castle."

The players below were stunned, so much so that words like "What a joke" were stuck in their throats.

After a moment of silence, a large number of players erupted!

"What a joke! What do you mean you can't log out? This is just a game!"

"Let us log out quickly, I have urgent matters in reality!"

Angry voices rang out, converging into a torrent that crashed through the plaza.

However, Kayaba Akihiko above seemed not to hear, continuing his declaration: "If anyone attempts to forcibly remove their NerveGear from the outside... then, the NerveGear's internal component will emit an electric wave, destroying your brain activity and ceasing your vital signs. Regrettably, up to this point, many have ignored this warning and forcibly removed their NerveGear, resulting in a total of 213 players dying just a short while ago."

As if to increase his credibility, the giant extended his right hand and slashed through the void. Images resembling news reports appeared in mid-air, like needles piercing deeply into the eyes and hearts of the players in the plaza.

The entire plaza fell into a deathly silence, and an emotion called fear began to quietly brew.

"However, please rest assured, while numerous incidents have occurred, your safety has also been guaranteed."

What should have been good news became a clownish mockery. Wang Yang's eyes held a faint fear, and he gave a wry smile. However, for him, this was indeed good news.

One could say that compared to the game, the real world was even more terrifying to him, because it was a completely unfamiliar world to him.

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