Chapter 4: Forget It, Let

Once, the earth was protected by two sacred trees—Black and White—maintaining balance among all things.

The Black Elves, who worshipped the Black Sacred Tree, established the Kingdom of Liusla; the Forest Elves, who worshipped the White Sacred Tree, founded the Kingdom of Karesao.

With the blessing of the Sacred Trees and powerful magic, both kingdoms flourished. Besides these two nations, there was also the Nine United Kingdoms, established by humans.

But one day, the elf race sought an invulnerable body and planned to cut into the Sacred Trees to obtain their sap.

War erupted. As the mages of both kingdoms prepared to unleash their largest attack spells, an anomaly occurred.

A halo ten kilometers in diameter encircled the battlefield plain, severing it from the earth and suspending it in the air.

The capitals and major cities of the kingdoms were all severed from the ground, and countless elves, humans, and dwarves were lifted into the sky, stacking vertically into discs.

Afterward, this event became known as the “Earth Severance,” and Aincrad was born.

This is the game’s background for SAO. Upon entering the game, Shengzai appeared in the Starting Street of Aincrad’s first layer, clad in a coarse linen tunic.

As bursts of blue light flickered around them, more figures dressed in beginner gear, just like him, continuously spawned around him.

The game featured a face-customization system and allowed players to choose their gender.

Thus, many players spent considerable time creating their characters.

Shengzai, however, knew he would soon reveal his true self, so he wasted no time—even using his real name for his character, making him one of the earliest players to enter the game.

The Starting Street of Aincrad’s first layer was vast, but with ten thousand players crammed together, finding someone was not easy.

In the friend-search box, Shengzai directly typed “Kirigaya,” and as soon as he found the player, he sent a friend request.

Not long after, Shengzai received a notification that his friend request had been accepted, and Kirigaya replied with a message.

“Shengzai, why did you enter the game using your real name?”

Kirigaya had already told Shengzai that his in-game character name was Kirigaya.

“Kirigaya” had been his gaming ID for years, unchanged all this time.

“I thought picking a fake name was too much trouble. Is it not allowed to use my real name?”

Seeing Shengzai’s reply, Kirigaya was speechless, then edited his message: “It’s not forbidden, but… wait, you entered the game this fast—did you even customize your face?”

“Customize face? What does that mean?”

“It means modifying your facial model—for example, making yourself more handsome…”

“There was indeed such a step earlier, but I thought my face was already handsome enough.”

“So I was perfectly satisfied and skipped all those steps entirely.”

Seeing the message pop up, Kirigaya was speechless again.

He had intended to tease Shengzai as a gaming novice, but suddenly, he felt a pang in his chest.

He realized his own meticulously crafted face was less handsome than Shengzai’s real one.

His own tech-enhanced appearance had been silently mocked by the other’s natural looks.

“You’re definitely a gaming newbie. In a full-dive game like this, modifying your name and appearance is basic common sense, right?

You used your real name and didn’t touch your appearance at all—what if you offend someone in-game or want to be a keyboard warrior?

You’ll get doxxed immediately!”

Kirigaya, as a veteran, patiently explained gaming basics to the newbie Shengzai.

As he explained, Kirigaya couldn’t help but secretly rejoice.

From Shengzai’s actions, his buddy was unquestionably a true “newbie,” not a level-60 veteran pretending to be one.

Earlier, Kirigaya had worried whether he could outfight Shengzai with sword techniques in this full-dive game.

Now, he had no worries at all—Shengzai didn’t even know basic game conventions.

This was clearly a textbook newbie. If he couldn’t beat Shengzai at this level, what right did he have calling himself a hardcore player? He might as well get cremated on the spot.

While tutoring Shengzai, Kirigaya also felt a deep inner satisfaction.

The feeling of a veteran guiding a newbie—only those who’ve done it understand.

In the real world, Shengzai was the undisputed veteran, but in this game world, Kirigaya was the true veteran.

Because the Starting Street square was so large and more players kept entering the game,

Out of consideration for Shengzai as a newbie, Kirigaya told him to stay put and not wander off—he’d find him using the party’s locate function.

Seeing Kirigaya’s earnest concern, Shengzai quietly closed the map displayed before him and decided to play the pure newbie, waiting for the veteran to find him.

Waiting was undeniably dull. Since many players struggled with naming or obsessed over perfect appearances and hadn’t yet entered the game, the boss, Kayaba Akihiko, had not yet appeared.

While waiting for Kirigaya, bored, Shengzai opened various game interfaces and began thoroughly exploring the game.

SAO was a sword-centric RPG, featuring numerous skills, half of which were sword-related.

What made this game truly striking was that players could create unique skills through their own in-game actions.

Any technique recognized by the system could be customized, and players gained the right to name their own skills.

“Is this… the paywall interface?”

While exploring SAO, beyond skill mechanics, secondary professions, and back menus, Shengzai quickly discovered the game’s recharge interface!

Yes, SAO had a recharge interface—after all, no game developer creates a game without wanting to make money.

Even games claiming to be “zero-pay” ultimately fall victim to the “it’s actually great” law. Without money, how could you create joy or maintain the game’s environment?

Since Kayaba Akihiko had not yet appeared, the program and code had not yet been altered—SAO was still just an ordinary game with pay-to-win functionality.

Looking at the recharge interface before him, Shengzai hesitated for less than half a minute, then quickly entered his account and password.

(End of chapter)