Chapter 1: The Blade and Sword Prologue: The Chinese Youth Who Inherits the Dojo!

In 2022, Tokyo District, Japan.

The major electronics and machinery manufacturer “ARGUS” developed a next-generation consumer terminal called the NERvGear, which was finally released to the public.

This made full-network virtual reality immersion accessible to mainstream online games.

Sword Art Online, abbreviated as “SAO,” was the first large-scale VRMMO to utilize this advanced technology.

A black-haired boy who had just left a department store held an unopened NERvGear terminal, preparing to go home and try it out, when his pocket phone suddenly rang.

“Shengzai, did you get your NERvGear helmet today?”

As soon as Shengzai answered the call, a male voice filled with urgency came through the line.

Just from the voice, it was easy to tell the speaker was about the same age as Shengzai—likely a middle school student.

“I had no chance to buy one, but the salesgirl happened to be our school’s senior working part-time.”

“Out of kindness for her cute junior, she pulled some strings for me.”

“And she even politely slipped me a little note with her contact info, saying if I had any questions, I could call her?”

“You have to admit, big companies are different—even their part-time girls provide top-notch service.”

Upon hearing his friend’s words, Kirigaya Kazuto couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“Out of kindness for a junior? Big-company service? Someone gave you a note because they liked your face!”

Though Kirigaya Kazuto found Shengzai’s special treatment utterly ridiculous, he wasn’t truly surprised.

Over the years, he had seen far too many similar incidents happen to Shengzai.

Shengzai’s full name is Wen Shengzai—a name with a distinctly Japanese flavor, yet he is actually Chinese.

Kazuto once asked why Shengzai had such a name, and Shengzai explained that “Wen” was a compound surname.

In ancient Eastern tradition, “Sheng” means sacred and beautiful, while “Zai” is a grammatical particle.

Shengzai’s parents died in an accident when he was very young; he was raised by his grandfather, who recently passed away.

Shengzai’s family runs a swordsmanship dojo, and both Kirigaya Kazuto and Kirigaya Suguha are students there.

But when Kazuto was seven, he gave up swordsmanship because he found it boring.

Shengzai and Kirigaya Suguha, however, persisted—and Shengzai fully inherited the “Wen Sword Style.”

Even as a first-year middle schooler, he entered the national kendo championship and defeated numerous second- and third-year students, ultimately winning the national title.

Having grown up together since childhood, the three are childhood friends.

Aside from Kazuto and Suguha’s strained sibling relationship, Shengzai got along well with both of them.

Kazuto, his like-minded buddy, aside, Kirigaya Suguha idolized Shengzai completely.

After all, winning the national kendo championship as a first-year middle schooler made Shengzai, in Suguha’s eyes, a natural-born swordsman.

Though still in middle school, Suguha knew her Shengzai-nii had already reached the “Menkyo Kaiden” level in the Wen Sword Style.

Even competing as a middle schooler in the high school kendo championship, he could easily secure a top ranking.

Since Wen Grandpa’s death, the dojo has been closed; if Shengzai achieves a strong placement in the high school championship and proves his “Menkyo Kaiden” level, he is fully capable of inheriting the sword dojo.

Not only is he handsome, but he’s also a young kendo champion with outstanding grades—anyone could guess how popular he is at school.

That’s why Kirigaya Kazuto wasn’t surprised by the special treatment Shengzai received.

Besides his own fangirl sister, Shengzai had never lacked admirers since childhood.

Having such an outstanding friend, Kazuto could only say it was his luck—and his misfortune.

His luck: Shengzai was fiercely loyal; if you needed help, he’d show up, and there was almost nothing he couldn’t handle.

His misfortune: having such a friend put immense pressure on him; now, his main role at school was delivering messages or love letters to Shengzai.

His decision to quit kendo at seven wasn’t just because he found it boring—it was also because the pressure was too great.

Everyone trained together, same age, all boys, yet Shengzai advanced by leaps and bounds.

He could only dominate Suguha—and that made Kazuto feel he had no talent for kendo, so he quit decisively.

Of course, though Shengzai excelled in every area, it didn’t mean Kirigaya Kazuto was useless.

After quitting kendo, Kazuto unexpectedly discovered he had a natural talent for gaming.

And only in gaming could he avoid being completely crushed by Shengzai—he even won more than he lost.

A boy who already loved games now found the one area where he could beat his friend—and naturally, he immersed himself even deeper.

SAO was the first large-scale VRMMO released using the NERvGear.

As a game, its attention was unprecedented; as a gamer, Kirigaya Kazuto couldn’t possibly ignore it.

Not only was he interested—he was also lucky enough to be selected as an internal tester and became one of SAO’s first players.

With SAO’s public test imminent, NERvGear units were in high demand; as an internal tester, he had no worries, but his best friend Shengzai couldn’t afford to miss out.

As an “internal tester,” he had already experienced SAO’s allure; in that world, he might truly defeat Shengzai with swordsmanship.

He was already skilled at games, and now he’d enter the public test as an internal tester—even if the game featured swordsmen as a mainstream class, he should at least stand a chance against Shengzai, right?

In short, Kazuto worried Shengzai wouldn’t get a helmet partly because he feared losing his only friend to play games with.

But mostly, he wanted to show off in front of Shengzai!

That’s right—having such an outstanding friend put immense pressure on Kirigaya Kazuto; he’d only reclaimed his dignity through gaming.

This time, he’d win back some ground in Shengzai’s own domain—even if it was only in a game!

(End of Chapter)